This paper presents the idea of Ecoskin: an additional ecological layer that enfolds fragments of housing surfaces in existing high-rise dwelling buildings. This added new coat is independent, detached from the existing building both conceptually and structurally. It can supplement all typical houses built with 20(th) century technologies, and enable their ecological recuperation. Ecoskin emerges from the conflicts of modem living within the natural environment: striving to raise the quality-of-life, to enable energy savings and to filter external environmental damages and yet enable buildings to tackle their own self-created hazards. It collects runoffs, accumulates solar energy, recycles grey water, allows for better insulation, ameliorates the air quality, and even designates spaces for private businesses and agriculture. Ecoskin also deals with the ecology of communal life, confronting two major problems created by the rigidity of modem land-use: the lack of vivid street life (as often created at the footsteps of high-rise residential buildings); and the inability to cater for alternative litestyles, for which the combining of living, working and recreation is a necessity. While dealing with these issues, Ecoskin aspires to revive and reclaim the public realm. This paper will attempt to demonstrate how a simple and inexpensive structure that coats existing residential high-rises can potentially improve the connection of people to their natural environment as well as to their social surroundings, and yet, revive the public realm around high-rise residential areas.
