Impermanent Inventory

Captiva, Florida

The Captiva Plant Inventory was completed in partnership with the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation and the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation as part of the adaption of a barrier island on the Gulf of Mexico. Species composition, overall size, health, habit, cultural significance and location were recorded in a field and then translated into a plant inventory catalog, corresponding reference spreadsheet, and shareable web-based map. The plant inventory sets the course for a design that works with plant life and the changing landscape. A “site plan” evokes permanence, a static reading that outlines the formal imprint of design, but design for a changing climate necessitates temporal attention in order to keep pace with urgent, and sometimes fierce dynamics. A “plant inventory” informs the “site” beyond formal outlines, as it charts the dynamic transformation of plant life, establishing a baseline for past and future change. A site without an inventory is blank, seemingly devoid of life beyond circulation routes and building footprints.