The ground in Houston is a shifting landscape of heavy clay soils, flat topography, and intense rainfall. When this environment is overlaid with fixed, man-made infrastructures, the two systems interact to exacerbate natural phenomena such as subsidence, faulting, and urban flooding. In response to an investigation into the relationship between Houston's infrastructure, its ground, and its climate, this thesis proposes the development of mid-scale flood control basins. Retention basins in the Houston area exist at the two scalar extremes: very large, regional facilities, and small, scattered, individual ponds. Generally, these facilities are not only inaccessible when flooding occurs, but also divorced from their surroundings; they are not designed to be used even when dry. In contrast, the proposed basins are enmeshed with a range of programs and infrastructures, designed to simultaneously accommodate urban life and water, and work to create a fluctuating character and intensity of program and activity.