When the modish Hotel Modera opened up in downtown Portland last year, they welcomed guests into a renewed space, one thoroughly overhauled from what had been the threadbare shell of an old Days Inn. Perhaps the most striking part of the renovation, however, was the repurposing of a barren parking lot into a lush courtyard with a beautiful living wall. It’s that wall that keeps drawing me back to the space: the migration of green from the ground level planters onto the vertical plane breaking the horizon of concrete, a modernist reflection of Forest Park tucked away in the heart of downtown.

The landscape architecture blog Inspiration Wall has a nice photographic walking tour of the new courtyard, as well as a close up look at the G-Sky panels that the designers at Lango Hansen used to create the wall. But if you’re looking to bring a green wall into your home, check out today’s Cool Hunting post on Woolly Pocket Planters. Made of recycled plastic bottles, their “Wally” design makes it easy to grow your own vertical garden, indoors or outside. It’s got me looking at walls in and around my home in a whole new way.

(via Inspiration Wall and Cool Hunting, Modera pics © Lisa Town.)