Gumbo Gardens is a booklet and an exhibition for gardeners, dirt-lovers, soil sisters, city-dwellers,
and plant nerds. It presents Houston’s soil, colloquially
known as ‘Gumbo Soil,’ as matter in motion - dirt that has been formed by eons of geological transformation and that is still undergoing change.


The project was part of the "Big, Hot, and Sticky" exhibition at the Architecture Center Houston (Summer 2024) and consisted of a published volume and several models and drawings. The resulting booklet, printed by 

, is divided into five sections
that outline ways to think about and work
with the soil for Houston’s ecological
health and the benefit of
the environment.

Houston, TX

Gumbo Gardens

Dept. is a landscape architecture and urban design studio that provides creative, useful, and adaptive design responses for the public and the environment.