How does the vine or plant grow, move, or climb a surface? Depending on the method certain structures of material types might be more effective or useful. In reverse, if you have a certain structure a particular climbing mechanism might be necessary to use.

Rootlets: These are aggressive and dig into and physically attach to a surface. They appear as little hairs on a main trunk. Holdfasts: these function through chemical adhesion to a surface. They do not go into under the surface, but wile the vine might be removed the holdfast will remain. Twining this vine will travel and follow a path by wrapping around another structure rather than a surface.

Plants are particular to the site in which they live. Each kind of plant has a particular niche that allows them to be most successful. When given the correct conditions plants are fast growing and tenacious, especially vines and crawlers.

But the conditions that we attempt to mimic and create must match the species of plants designers want to implement. Each type of climbing mechanism must be used to maintain the survivability of the plant and the structure or surface of the building. Designers cannot mix up types of climbing mechanisms and attachment structures while not providing water, adequate amount of sunlight and space.

This sounds like common sense but each plant is particular to its species’ needs and the conditions given by the built environment. The designer needs to look at the site and habitat diversity and determine how man interacts with nature, building in the possibility for flexible designs in the future.

Designer should: use the full potential of the site, conserve or develop diversity of habitat; encourage a full range of organic life, encourage the full cycle of growth from birth to decay, develop balance self-sustaining communities, control the system of management, create maximum variety of opportunity for man and nature to coexist, create a coherent landscape structure and design in four dimensions.