Jumex Museum, Mexico City

David Chipperfield Architects 


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...