How should a museum be designed?

The new Modern Art museum in Rome, The Maxxi, by Zaha Hadid is a beautiful building.  Its sweeping lines, natural lighting, and sleek black accents are downright sexy.  However, as an art market we must ask ourselves if we go to a museum to see art or to see the building as art.  Personally, I adore architecture, but I also like art and believe that great museum design overshadows the art which it is designed to house.  I am sick and tired of visiting museums that are magnificent triumphs of design in themselves yet subjugate all that is held within its walls to the omnipresence of the design.  It is unfair to the works of art that the building becomes the utmost important work, a work that conditions all other art objects that come in contact with it. 

I prefer the design of the Geffen Contemporary in Los Angeles, essentially a warehouse with art inside.  The floorplan can be easily adjusted with temporary walls to accomodate any exhibition and allow the curator to manipulate design so that design works to emphasize the art.  In the Maxxi and many other contemporary art musuems, the art must succumb to the permanent design of the building.  I would advocate for museums to essentially be boxes, blank canvases that can be reconfigured to best display the art for which the public comes to see.  There are practical reasons to do this, the building is cheaper and the design more flexible; therefore, more money can be spent on art acquisitions and museum programs.  The design of the Geffen Contemporary plays down architecture in favor of art and thus provides a purer viewing experience, one that is not mediated by arrogant, attention-craving design.  The experience at the Geffen Contemporary is one that rightly emphasizes art over all else.

Here is the link to images of the Maxxi:  The Maxxi