地板首先有一种实用的意义，比墙壁，尤其是天花板要重要得多。一个人必须能够在上面移动，并在上面放置物体。重力赋予了它一个与生命和物体的支撑有关的角色。纹理的变化可以赋予它特殊的重要性，但是，作为一个普遍的规则，它必须保持水平，以保证通用性和移动的可能性，我们期望从大多数建筑空间。在这种情况下，水平和楼梯的差异是非常重要的。因此，地面比墙壁和天花板更难操作——因为它具有稳定的特性，统一了空间的不同部分。
我们在楼地面上行走。西方人很少用它来坐躺，或者用手或身体的其他部分接触。他们对地毯的偏爱可能背离了一种“和解的尝试”，即重建身体与地面之间的基本关系。我们应该记住，有两种人工水平面：地面以及地面的覆盖层；上层的楼面，更轻和更人工。使用的材料和它们的设计是对所在位置和支撑体的回应。
The floor has first of all a pragmatic meaning, much more than the walls and especially the ceiling. One must be able to move around on it and place objects on it. Gravity confers on it a role linked to the idea of support of life and objects. Variations in texture can give it a specific importance but, as a general rule, it must remain horizontal in order to guarantee versatility and the possibility of movement which we expect from most architectural spaces. In this context differences of level and staircases are very important. The ground is therefore less manipulable than the walls and the ceiling – because of this fact it has a stabilizing character, unifying different parts of space.
We walk on it; Western man hardly ever uses it for sitting or lying on, touching with his hands or the rest of his body. It could be that his preference for carpets betrays an ‘attempt at reconciliation’, the reestablishment of an essential relationship between the body and the built floor. We should remember that there are two sorts of artificial ground: the covering of the earth – our paving stones and tombstones – and the floor, the ground of an upper storey, lighter and more artificial. The materials used and their design are a response to location and means of support.
《 Elements of Architecture：From Form to Place 》
