Have you ever noticed how flooring dictates a space? It is a very subtle detail that few people (including me) tend to notice. When you generally think of a rug you picture it in a stereotypical living room or bedroom — but I want you to think about it further. For example, look at the floor when you go into the chemistry lab at City. Its bare, shiny, and almost perfectly smooth floor makes it feel a lot more rigid and almost aggressively clean, conjuring up memories of a hospital. When you are in class on the first floor of the academic wing, though, its softly colored carpet makes the rooms feel a lot more comfortable and relaxed to almost make you feel at home and maybe more comfortable to share.
Then there is the math wing, where you have squeaky laminate wood flooring. To me this gives the rooms a lot more of a “classic” school room feel, almost like the class should have a blackboard. In many instances the practice of feng shui places a lot of importance on rugs and the type of flooring you have (I suggest Dear Modern for more on feng shui). I think that it is something designers don’t pay enough attention to, despite it being just as important as furniture or paint. If anything, it is more important than those things as it dictates the role of the room. So next time you are in a new room (or an old one) try and think about how the flooring affects the room and what changes rugs may make.