Reliant Energy Plaza Houston might not look as futuristic as Tokyo, but that's why we get goose bumps when we wander down to the corner of Lamar and Main. This 783,000-square-foot skyscraper provides a peephole into the future -- a sleek, chic architectural tomorrow, well worth the reported $150 million price of admission. Hypnotic rods of light twinkle up top like a 36-story-tall Vegas slot machine. Down below, at street level, two open shafts cycle through the same gorgeous cascades of color. The light rail is even out in front! It makes you dream of the day when you step out of your ultramodern office pod and inspect a Houston subway map (probably a tangled knot of multicolored lines stretching from Katy to Clear Lake) -- that is, if you don't take the flying car home.