Natural History Museum
A landmark of Victorian architecture and the United Kingdom's national collection of natural history. Two flagship event halls. 1,200 guest capacity. Iconic specimens including the blue whale Hope and the Stegosaurus Sophie. Kudos AV is the accredited technical production partner across both Hintze Hall and Earth Hall.
A Victorian cathedral of natural history. One of London's most spectacular venues.
The Natural History Museum is the work of architect Alfred Waterhouse, opened in 1881 in a sweeping Romanesque Revival building on Cromwell Road in South Kensington. The terracotta facade, the vaulted iron and glass ceilings, and the famous central Hintze Hall make it one of the most architecturally significant buildings in London and one of the most distinctive venues for private hire anywhere in the world.
For events, the museum opens two of its most iconic spaces after hours: Hintze Hall , the grand central nave with the blue whale skeleton Hope suspended overhead, and Earth Hall , the dramatic space wrapped around the central globe sculpture with the Stegosaurus Sophie at its heart. Both halls can be hired individually for stand alone events, or together for larger programmes that need both scale and a contrasting second space.
Hintze Hall accommodates up to 1,200 standing or 650 for a seated dinner, making it one of the largest hireable interior spaces in central London. Earth Hall offers an entirely different feel: a more intimate, atmospheric venue for up to 400 standing or 200 seated, with the dramatic sculpted Earth backdrop framing every shot from every angle.
Beyond the two main halls, the museum offers additional event spaces including the Jerwood Gallery (for smaller receptions and breakouts), the Anning Rooms (members club style private dining), and access to the surrounding galleries and the wildlife garden during certain hire types. We can advise on the right combination of spaces for the scale and tone of the event.
As an accredited production partner at the Natural History Museum, Kudos AV brings careful, museum sensitive technical production to both halls. Lighting, audio, projection and content delivery designed for these listed spaces, with full understanding of the conservation, fire, sound and access constraints that come with working inside the world's most important natural history collection.
What we deliver
Specimen Sensitive Lighting
Lighting design that brings Hope and Sophie to life without exposing them to harmful temperatures or UV. Specimen safe colour mixing fixtures, careful aim, full conservation team sign off for every event.
Vaulted Hall Acoustics
Speaker systems designed to deliver clear speech and full range music inside two of the most challenging acoustic environments in London. Both halls are tall, hard surfaced and resonant. Our designs control reflections and deliver clarity at every seat.
Projection & Content
Large format projection that can wash the walls of Hintze Hall in brand colour, or pick out individual specimens. Custom content created in house and delivered onto the museum's interior in a way that is sympathetic to the architecture.
Both Halls Together
For large programmes we run Hintze Hall and Earth Hall simultaneously: a reception in one, dinner in the other, fully coordinated by a single Kudos production team. One brief, one production manager, one bill.
Hiring the Natural History Museum
The museum hires its spaces in the evening, once it has closed to the public. Hintze Hall takes 650 for dinner, 450 for a dinner dance and 1,200 standing. Earth Hall takes 200 for dinner and 400 standing. The Darwin Centre atrium and courtyard suits around 150 seated, and galleries such as Fossil Way and Dinosaur Way can be added for drinks. For the largest events the whole museum can be hired.
Venue hire is dry hire. The fee, which the museum publishes on its venue hire costs page, covers the space; catering, furniture, decor, lighting, sound and staging are booked separately from the museum’s approved suppliers. That is where Kudos AV comes in: we are on the list, and we design, install and run the lighting, sound, staging, LED screens and print for events in every one of these spaces.
Weddings at the Natural History Museum
The museum is licensed for ceremonies as well as receptions, and most weddings take Hintze Hall for the whale, the staircase and the scale. Because the room is the decor, the production starts with lighting it. For a 200 guest wedding in Hintze Hall we gave the ceremony, dinner and party three looks from one rig and built a printed circle bar, dancefloor and DJ booth.
Galas, awards, launches and Christmas parties
Hintze Hall is one of London’s great rooms for a gala dinner or an awards night, and the museum hosts launches, summer parties, conferences and Christmas parties too. We have produced Awakening Music’s 25th anniversary gala, a dinner with speeches, a panel and a live band in front of a 6m x 4m Unilumin LED screen, Yes Theory’s 10 million subscriber celebration in Earth Hall, with custom gobos and YouTube’s Diamond Creator Award presented on stage, FOUNDXRS Club’s black tie party in Earth Hall, with a dancefloor, a lit bar and a rig of moving lights, the World Homoeopathy Summit, a black tie summit and awards gala with a 14m LED screen and 90 presentations, MTRNM Night at the Museum, a live show with beams across the hall, and our own tenth anniversary party.
A corporate night here usually needs a stage and screens that work with the architecture rather than hide it, speech that stays clear under a stone vault, and a lighting design that carries the room from reception to dinner to party. Send us the brief and we will plan it with the museum’s events team.
Planning a corporate event at the Natural History Museum? Start with the programme: a drinks reception, a seated gala dinner, an awards ceremony or a brand launch each needs a different layout. We scope the lighting, microphones, stage and screens around the chosen hall, then coordinate the technical schedule with the museum and your other suppliers. For a company celebration, the design can move from speeches and dinner to a band or DJ without rebuilding the room.
Producing an event at Natural History Museum
01How much does it cost to hire the Natural History Museum?
The museum sets its own hire charges, which vary by space, day and time of year, and publishes them on its venue hire costs page. Because it is dry hire, catering, furniture, decor and production are budgeted on top. Production depends on the design and guest numbers, and our quotes list every item separately so you can see where the money goes.
02What is included when you hire the Natural History Museum?
The space, for an evening after the museum closes to the public. It is a dry hire venue, so catering, furniture, decor, lighting, sound and staging all come from the museum's approved suppliers. Kudos AV is on that list.
03Which spaces can you hire at the Natural History Museum?
The two flagship halls are Hintze Hall, for 650 at dinner or 1,200 standing, and Earth Hall, for 200 at dinner or 400 standing. The Darwin Centre atrium and courtyard suits around 150 seated, galleries such as Fossil Way and Dinosaur Way can be added for drinks, and the whole museum can be hired for the largest events. Tell us which space you have been offered and we will design the production for it.
04Can you get married at the Natural History Museum?
Yes. The museum is licensed for civil ceremonies and hosts weddings in several of its spaces, most often Hintze Hall. See our Natural History Museum weddings and the museum's own weddings page.
05Can you hold a Christmas party at the Natural History Museum?
Yes. The museum hosts Christmas parties from drinks receptions to seated dinners with dancing. The production is what turns a museum hall into a party: lighting that changes through the night, sound for speeches and a DJ or band, and a dancefloor. Tell us your date and numbers.
06What corporate events can you hold at the Natural History Museum?
Gala dinners, awards ceremonies, product launches, conferences, summer parties and Christmas parties. We have produced an anniversary gala with a live band, a summit and awards gala and a live show in Hintze Hall.
07Who does the AV and event production at the Natural History Museum?
Kudos AV is on the museum's approved suppliers list. We have produced a wedding, a summit and awards gala, a live show and our own tenth anniversary party in Hintze Hall, and Yes Theory's 10 million subscriber celebration and FOUNDXRS Club's black tie party in Earth Hall.
08Can we bring our own AV company to the Natural History Museum?
Only if they are on the museum's approved suppliers list. Every supplier on it has been through the museum's accreditation, which is how the building and the collection are protected.
09What time can you get in to build at the Natural History Museum?
Evening hire at the museum typically begins from around 6.30pm, once it has closed to the public, so the build is scheduled into that window and around the museum's own access times. We work alongside the caterers and other approved suppliers so the room is ready on time.
10Is a technician included, or is it dry hire?
Either. Equipment can go out on dry hire, or with the technicians and operators who install it, run the show and take it out again. Most events at the Natural History Museum are crewed. Our quotes list install crew, operators and the project manager as separate lines, so you can see exactly what is included before you commit.
11Can you rig from the building's structure?
Only from points the venue approves, and never from anything the venue has not signed off. Our riggers work to LOLER and PLASA standards, with full load calculations and risk assessments completed before load in. The team works regularly in heritage interiors, listed beam structures and rooms with low ceilings, so the design starts from what the building allows.
12How do you light and mic a room full of specimens?
With fixtures and levels agreed with the museum first. The halls are vaulted and highly reflective, so the sound system is designed for speech intelligibility in that specific acoustic rather than dropped in and turned up. Battery powered uplighters keep cable off the floors.
13What did you install for the World Homoeopathy Summit?
A 14m x 4m LED screen and full show production inside Hintze Hall, covering 90 award presentations. The case study has the detail.
14What should a corporate production brief for the Natural History Museum include?
Send the hall you are considering, your date, guest numbers and programme, including presentations, awards, video playback and entertainment. Include any access information supplied by the museum. We can then plan the sound, lighting, staging and screens around the event and provide a production quote. Venue hire remains a separate booking with the museum.
Gallery
Case studies
Events we have produced at the Natural History Museum.
Seven very different nights in the museum: a wedding, an anniversary gala, a creator celebration and a members’ club party in Earth Hall, a summit and awards gala, an anniversary party and a live show.
Natural History Museum is an independent venue and Kudos AV is a production partner there, not its operator. For hire, availability and access, see the official Natural History Museum website. Kudos AV is listed on the venue’s approved suppliers page.
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