The companion to the Broad Street facade commission, this work turns inward. Where the first photograph documented the building’s public face—how it presents itself to Columbus—this one captures the interior courtyard where employees actually spend their days.

Institutional buildings of this era increasingly included such spaces: interior patios bringing natural light deep into floor plans, providing outdoor access for lunch breaks and informal meetings, offering respite from the sealed, artificially-lit environments that defined earlier office architecture. Research had shown what workers always knew—access to daylight and outdoor space improves wellbeing and productivity.

For OSERS, the patio carried particular meaning. The retirement system served working-class public employees—bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers—whose own workplaces might offer few amenities. Building quality architecture for the administrators managing their retirement benefits sent a message about the dignity the system accorded its members.

Masumi’s photograph preserves this semi-private space: not the public face of the building, but the internal environment where its daily life unfolds. A different kind of architectural documentation, focused on the experience of being inside rather than looking at a facade from the street.