147equilibrium, or by enlarging our base of stability by widening
our stance.
Our relationship to the ground is ambivalent. Normally,
we come into contact with it only by treading upon it; the
ground is where refuse accumulates; to go to ground is a form
of humiliation; and the dead are buried in the ground. On the
other hand, we seek protection by cowering on the ground,
we lie down on it to relax, and receive nutrition from beneath
the earth.
The progressive historical displacement of the functions
of bed, table and hearth from ground level to medium height
may be interpreted as the detachment from life on the ground
that allows spaces to appear in a different perspective. None-
theless, the ground is the foundation of our space of activity,
and our lives as a whole are played with the ground as a field
of action and play and a plane of reference for our primarily
horizontally oriented perceptions (> field). When our view is
not blocked by some obstacle, the ground – in the form of the
horizon – constitutes the unattainable boundary of the range
of the human gaze.
In multifarious variations, architecture plays through
the ways in which the experience of groundedness can be ar-
ticulated. By carrying broad loads directly on the ground, it
emphasizes the work of carrying loads and its own stability,
for example through a pedestal or plinth zone, or attempts
instead to escape > weight through lightweight constructions
that provide support while coming into contact with the
ground at the fewest possible number of points and covering
the minimum feasible area.
Through an enclosure, the ground itself becomes recog-
nizable as > territory (as property). But already the dividing
line of a delimited surface area, in particular when it is set
off by some type of flooring, indicates a boundary between
inside and outside. We realize that you have entered a room
as soon as we walk across a defined edge and onto a delimited
area of flooring.