The Jumex Museum by David Chipperfield in Mexico City rises as an icon amid complex circumstannces. The British architect’s first work in Latin America solves three paradoxes: how to insert a building into a tight plot with fragmented surroundings; how to work with a local labor force that is as notable for its artisanal skills as it is for its lack of construction rigor; and how to make a private space a public place. The architect reconciled the opposites through simplification of forms as well as materials, and struck a balance between desires to open up the space and compliance with the museum’s need for closed spaces. A plaza turned into a museum or a museum raised over a public space, the project presents a sculptural monolith four stories high. The building has a stepped composition – with the volume slightly expanding floor by floor – that culminates with a sawtooth roof...