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La Casa Madrigal, mostly referred to as the Casita, is a fictional house that appears in Walt Disney Animation Studios' 60th feature, Encanto.
During the beginning of development, several ideas for Encanto's story were considered—such as a young woman receiving a magical doorknob that sends her to an unexpected realm, and family patriarch Agustín discovering the Encanto and constructing a magical house.[1] In Latin America, numerous cultural concepts imply the existence of magic, such as the idea of Encantos,[a] according to Juan Pablo Reyes Lancaster Jones (author of The Art of Encanto). People from Colombia (the setting of Encanto) coexist with magic-like places. These concepts led the filmmakers to devise the notion of a house and town that miraculously appears from the earth in response to a desperate plea.[2] Jones considered the house to be "a literal representation of the family and their emotional connections".[3]
During the film's development, house grew to be a character. Knowing Encanto was not a "journey movie", Byron Howard and Jared Bush discussed the possibilities of the house being able to become alive, since they hoped for it to be the location where interesting events occur.[3] In one version of the story, the Casita was an extension of, in lieu of the entire Madrigal family, Abuela Alma, which meant the wallpaper's colors of the room she was in represented her mood.[4] Another version depicted a story that took place over a century and several generations, with the Casita evolving as well.[5]
The design team found mixing the story-driven creative license and Disney's traditional methods to be a challenge. Disney Animation spoke to architects,[3] with whom they did Zoom presentations,[6] and researched construction for design.[3] The crew was inspired by a variety of things, including water wheels and windmills, which were considered due to the then-fantasy tone in which items were highly improbable and strange. After the plot was more grounded and they incorporated magical realism, it became clear that they needed to make the Casita more typically Colombian. In traditional Colombian architecture, earth plays an essential role in the construction of conventional homes. There are many variants, including mud stucco walls, known as bahareque, composed of organic elements like bamboo frames that are filled with earth and then plastered; adobe, or uncooked mud bricks, or tapia pisada (a hollow construction made out of compacted mud layers); and tejas, or ceramic tiles, commonly used on roofs.[7]
The goal in designing the kitchen was to make it seem warm and inviting. The team inserted additional curves and thickened the material. Visual Development Artist Mac George was also able to use Colombian tilework to bring personality to the room. The kitchen features artwork reflecting the La Chamba Community's traditional black pottery.[8] The courtyard was designed as a symmetrical place, with the bedrooms surrounding it on the second floor, similar to real Colombian homes.[8]