Crossings

Though both cities were given root by their waterways, the two could not have developed a more distinct layout from one another. Houston was founded on a system of bayous that led settlers inland from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. Venice developed on a system of naturally occurring canals, inlets and channels connecting a series of marshy islands of the Laguna Venezia. In Venice, we see a city that took shape along the banks of these canals, creating a meandering, organic layout rooted in 5th century Europe. Houston, a city formed in 1836 at the time of the Industrial Revolution, is one that spread from the banks of the Buffalo Bayou to form a grid of city blocks much more common to west...View all