Of the many works built by Chicago-based Navillus Woodworks', one of the most impressive is an 8.5-ton sculpture that hangs on the University of Illinois Chicago campus. The piece made of wood combines Caribbean architectural heritage with communal gathering concepts that "create a vast, textured visual plane" that hangs in the building’s atrium space

The sculpture, entitled Scala, is a monumental, 17,000-pound suspended sculpture designed by Edra Sota, a Chicago-based, internationally known artist, and husband Dan Sullivan, designer and owner of Navillus Woodworks. 

The installation, suspended from a lintel in front of an original wall by architect Walter Netsch at UIC, bridges Chicago’s architectural past with its evolving creative future.

The 40-foot by 40-foot suspended sculpture is comprised of 485 modules made from poplar. Handcrafted from over one mile of 3-inch-thick poplar wood, every module was fabricated by hand at Navillus Woodworks. Every connection point was engineered to carry the load of the 17,000-pound structure anchored into the lintel above a historic masonry wall.

The wood was first run through a molding machine to produce 485 individual hexagonal and octagonal modules. The fabrication team at Navillus Woodworks rolled the individual pieces into assemblies and crosscut them on a giant band saw. Each piece was then sanded and finished by hand.

Installation innovation

Instead of anchoring into the historic masonry wall of the Computer Science building, the conjoined wood sections were mounted on a structural steel system, according to Sullivan’s Instagram page. This structural frame was engineered by Bob Magruder to safely carry the massive load of the installation.

The sculpture lives within one of UIC’s most architecturally significant spaces. Installed in front of an original wall from Walter Netsch’s historic UIC campus, the piece bridges generations of design—connecting Chicago’s architectural past with its evolving creative future,” said Sullivan.

According to an Instagram post from Soto, Scala is more than just an impressive structure. It is also a reflection on home, cultural memory, and shared vision, themes that are central to the work behind the project and brought into physical form through precision fabrication. She said that Scala is inspired by mid-century architectural elements found in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean while responding to the existing architecture of the UIC campus designed by Netsch. 

“Scala, Latin for ‘Ladder,’ reflects the academic focus of the new building as well as the individuals that congregate there,” Soto wrote. “This community is simultaneously unified in its pursuit of knowledge yet multifarious in its viewpoints, backgrounds and goals. As such, “Scala” symbolizes the individuality and diversity of the populace as well the accumulated strength achieved through collaboration and community.”

The Process Behind the Piece
The development of Scala was the subject of a documentary entitled “Creating Scala” that highlighted “what it truly takes to bring a project of this magnitude to life,” said Sullivan. “From initial sketches and design development to the engineering challenges and final installation, the film highlights the many hands and minds involved in the process.”

This was a true collaborative effort, involving designers, engineers, fabricators, and installers—including Methods & Materials, who led the installation phase. Every step required coordination, craftsmanship, and problem-solving at the highest level.

"At its core, Scala is a Chicago story—designed by local artists, built by local craftspeople, and installed in a public academic space that will be experienced by thousands for years to come," he said in a blog post.

"Projects like this reflect what Navillus is all about: translating artistic vision into buildable reality, pushing the limits of material and form, and collaborating with some of the most innovative creative minds in the city."