Houston is a diverse city that attracts intellectuals from around the world to industries such as energy and aerospace (NASA’s Johnson Space Center is located 25 miles southeast of downtown Houston). It’s an international metropolis that retains its sense of Southern hospitality and offers a surprisingly large number of modern and International Style architecture gems.

Brett Zamore is one of Houston’s leading modern architects. He moved to Texas from New Haven, Connecticut, in 1995 to attend graduate school at Rice University, then opened his own firm, Brett Zamore Design, in 2006. I spoke with Zamore on a recent trip down to Houston about the city’s constant state of change and renewal, its lack of zoning laws, the drive to bring more people downtown, and the reason why Houston is the country’s fattest city.