When 17,000 Pounds of Wood Becomes a Ladder to Belonging
A documentary about Scala—the monumental public artwork transforming a historic Chicago building into a celebration of community, craft, and Caribbean heritage.
The Story Behind the Sculpture
For years, a historic brick wall stood as the exterior of Walter Netsch's engineering building at the University of Illinois Chicago. Then the building was enclosed, and the outside became inside—a moment of architectural transformation waiting for meaning.
Enter artists Edra Soto and Dan Sullivan, who saw an opportunity to suspend not just sculpture, but belonging itself.
Scala is a 40-foot monumental installation of carved poplar wood—over 17,000 pounds of octagonal forms that hover along what was once an exterior façade. Named after the Latin word for "ladder," it draws from the decorative architecture of working-class Caribbean neighborhoods, elevating vernacular forms often dismissed as background into a central, welcoming presence on a major university campus.
This documentary follows the multi-year journey from concept to installation, revealing the technical ingenuity, collaborative spirit, and cultural significance behind one of Chicago's most ambitious recent public artworks.
Engineering the Impossible
Custom suspension systems. Structural calculations for historic walls. A fabrication team hand-crafting thousands of wooden elements. Watch how artists, engineers, and fabricators solved problems that had never been solved before.
From Puerto Rico to Chicago
Artist Edra Soto translates the architectural language of her childhood—the decorative screens and vernacular details of working-class Caribbean homes—into a monumental statement about visibility, heritage, and who gets to belong in institutional spaces.
Collaboration at Scale
When two artists with distinct practices come together, something new emerges. Featuring intimate interviews with the Navillus Woodworks team, structural engineers, installers, and university leaders who made Scala possible.
Watch The Documentary
"Through architectural interventions, my goal is to express a sentiment of belonging. Grafting my sense of home onto existing architecture allows me to symbolically inhabit any place in the world."
— Edra Soto, Artist
"We've hung heavy sculptures before, but we'd never hung forty feet of heavy sculpture, and never with such a large production crew or such a long runway. Scala was years in the making."
— Remy Bordas, Navillus Woodworks
"This piece is not like anything else they've done before. When they work together, they come up with ideas they wouldn't arrive at separately."
— Remy Bordas on Soto & Sullivan's collaboration
CREDITS
Artists
Edra Soto
Puerto Rican-born artist, educator, and co-director of The Franklin outdoor project space. Soto's work probes constructed social orders, diasporic identity, and the legacy of colonialism through architectural interventions that ask: who belongs, and who is seen?
Her work has been exhibited at the Whitney Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and El Museo del Barrio, and is held in major collections including the Whitney and Pérez Art Museum Miami. Recent public commissions include projects for Public Art Fund in Central Park, Chicago Botanic Garden, and O'Hare International Airport.
Dan Sullivan
Chicago-based artist, designer, fabricator, and musician. Founder of Navillus Woodworks, Sullivan brings together decades of experience in the trades and the arts to create durable, refined, and visually striking objects and environments.
His custom furniture has appeared everywhere from independent restaurants to the Hulu series The Bear. As a musician performing under the name Nad Navillus, Sullivan's experimental approach to sound and collaboration directly informs his material practice—both are about structuring rhythm, tension, and resolution in space and time.
Fabrication
Navillus Woodworks
(Dan Sullivan, Wyatt Mitchell, Remy Bordas, Caroline Robe, Jessica Vargas, Mark Nemecek, Calvin Anderson, Sabina Clodgo, Hannah Davis, Montrell Dones, Tycory Edwards, Jason Goldberg, Kate Heilenbach, Alex Heywood, Gabo Moreno, Clayton Phillips, Raymond Rodriguez, Sean Rogers)
Structural Engineering
Bob Magruder, Goodfriend Magruder CMD
Installation
Methods & Materials
Delivery
Scan Deliveries
Photography
Jeremy Bittermann
Documentary Production
Buildergrowth (Andrew Harris - Videographer & Editor, Brittany Brilliant - Executive Producer)
Music
Dan Sullivan / Nad Navillus
(Dan Sullivan - guitar, Madeleine Aguilar - synth/percussion, Rob Bochnik - baritone guitar, Andy Hall - drums, Eddie Matthews - saxophone)
Special Thanks
University of Illinois Chicago, Illinois Capital Development Board, LMN Architects, Dock 6 Collective, W.E. O'Neil Construction