Activity 7- Plaza Observation

by Caitlin Butler

The place that I was supposed to go to observe was Chase Manhattan Plaza, but when I got there, I could not observe it because it was under construction, just my luck. So, I then decided to go observe the other plaza that was right across the street from the Chase Manhattan Plaza. It was right on the Brown Brothers Harriman building, located 140 Broadway to be exact. This particular plaza was being used mostly for sitting, eating, and talking to others. I saw this one man who sat up on the actually plaza platform where the trees where planted in. I do not know why he just didn’t sit on the bench that was there, but hey to each it’s own! Every type of person was there, but it was mostly business men and women in business suits who were using this plaza to sit and eat their lunch I noticed. They were also using the plaza for smoking, to talk on the phone, to do their work, or to just people watch. The people there were using this plaza as the plaza was intended to be used, but the one thing that I noticed that was not right was people littered near the trees and put some of their garbage there, instead of putting it in the regular garbage. The plaza is surrounded literally by this big tall black shiny building called Brown Brothers Harriman. This building is right in the middle of two other large buildings. The building is also surrounded by all food venders such as, Halal food, smoothies, hot dog stands, etc. To the left of this building, there is this big red cube looking piece of art that had a hole right in the middle of it. There is also a lot of construction that was going on here with buildings. Bank of America, HSBC bank, and Chase bank all surround the plaza as well. There is plenty of sitting place at the plaza. To be exact, there is 4 big black shiny marble looking benches for people to sit down on. It was very clean as well. You can tell that it is very well kept. There are 28 trees lined up all along the plaza. This I think makes people feel more at ease and feel like they are surrounded by nature. You cannot just have all buildings around. That would be just too depressing to look at all day during break or lunch hour. The plaza itself is kept very clean, because I saw a man who cleans it up, that is his job there, which is always nice. This makes people want to be there more I would think. The building itself inside had security man there, so that if you went inside this building, the security guy would ask where you were going. This is good because it’s a way to keep out the undesirables. That is vital, especially in such a high end business spot such as Wall Street. There are also surveillance cameras all inside the building, but I did not see any outside. For all I know, the camera could be hidden outside too, but maybe I did not look hard enough or maybe they just hid it really really well. This plaza spot was very public to the outside world. Anyone could sit there on the benches. There was a lot of room. I felt very relaxed and calm when I just sat there observing the people. I also took in the fresh air of the trees around me and the fresh smell of Wall Street. I just felt really special, sitting in such a money power place. I mean after all, Wall Street is where rich business men in suites come to work and make the big money. I also noticed that there was light hitting the building from up above, which like in the video we watched, the man said that light is vital from buildings, because even if you do not get light coming down from straight above you, the light that is bouncing off the building also helps. Any light will do! The plaza I felt was like it’s own little community that had diverse people there. I also noticed lots of school and regular tours going around the plaza and walking around it. Overall, I enjoyed doing this project very much. It was my first time going down to Wall Street. I thought that people were busy, but overall nice. It was very easy getting directions there from people too. That is probably because there are lots of tourists there that need directions. I noticed it was filled with tourists there all walking around with their cameras in their hands taking a lot of pictures of Wall Street. I also stopped by and did some cheap jewelry shopping there. I figured I might as well enjoy myself there, while I was doing a school assignment. I also went to get some lunch as well. All I have to say is, thank God is what such a nice day outside.