Along the coast of Southern Louisiana, communities, ecologies, and industries inhabit a perpetually transforming landscape. Throughout the most recent centuries of urban development, settlement patterns have denied the persistent dynamism and typically constructed upon these landscapes as if they were permanent. Both within Barataria Basin and throughout the rest of Southeast Louisiana this transforming landscape questions current development practices and challenges the continuation of existing coastal communities. Aligned parallel to the coastline, the long, thin sandy islands close to the shore are known as barrier islands. Sited within one of these barrier island ecosystems, the Grand Isle Studio examines the prospects for human settlement to remain amongst this edge condition.