Breathing Buildings, A ventilated-wall system, popular in Europe, holds great promise for existing buildings here. By Kristi Cameron

They’re an all too common problem in cities: older, structurally sound buildings with ratty facades and poor thermal properties. New York, for example, is littered with underperforming towers in need of an update. But tearing them down is costly, wasteful, and time-consuming. That’s why the Italian manufacturer Marazzi hopes its ventilated-wall system with porcelain stoneware—a kind of designer coat for architecture—catches on here the way it has in Europe.