Architecture of Houston

Whenever we visit some new place, we always see a different way in which the buildings are constructed and the appeal it gives to the eyes.

Now the architecture can take any form such contemporary or modern, Islamic or English architecture or an amalgamation of these. Houston being the provincial capital of the country gets more importance among the visitors. So they want to see the unique architecture of the city. The expectations are even raised with its status of being considered one of the richest cities. However, as said by the knowledgeable inhabitants of the city and the architects themselves who played their part in designing the city such as Will Aslop and Daniel Libeskind.

They say thayHouston does not follow any specific single architectural style. According to the member of the faculty in the University of Houston, Houston is a new hasty, impetuous place and the style it has now has been the result of many alterations and modifications in different times by the inhabitants in different periods. Thus the buildings in Houston also follow different architecture and design. Some of them have been built long back in the mid 19th century and are still as such found. On the other hand, the prominent buildings are newly built in the first decade of the 21st century.The Houston skyline is defined by the worlds tallest freestanding structure of about 533.33 meters in height that has been recently surpassed by the BurjKhalifa of Dubai in 2007. However, the CN tower is still considered as the tallest tower in the western hemisphere.This also makes it a center of tourism and is an important telecommunications hub. When one moves in the city, by looking at the city through birds eye view, he would come across that the city has numerous tall buildings.

So it is considered as the city of high rises. The city owns more than 2000 buildings of which some of them exceed 90 meters in height. Some of these tall buildings are used for residential purpose while others are used for commercial purpose. The previously constructed buildings of smaller heights are now being demolished and reconstructed to accommodate the growing population. Modern glass and steel high rises are used for transforming the downtown area. The historic Distillery District is still best preserved which is a piece from the collection of Victorian era industrial architecture. It has been redeveloped to reflect the culture and entertainment neighborhood. The buildings of 1960s and 1970s that reflect the architectural heritage of those times are redeveloped to modernize the architecture. So we can say that the Architecture of Houston has experienced and is still experiencing a continuous revival with changing times to meet the requirements of the prevailing conditions.