NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The public was given a first look Wednesday inside a sprawling medical center built in large part with federal money Louisiana got after Hurricane Katrina to replace its old flooded downtown public hospital.

Building the $1.1 billion medical complex — which in places feels more akin to a modern art museum than a hospital — has come about despite a yearslong debate over the extent of hurricane damage to the city's old Charity Hospital, fights over razing a neighborhood where the new hospital now spans 2.2 million square feet, and the objections of residents, medical professionals and advocates.

Administrators who gave the news media tours of the facility Wednesday touted its optimistic pastel colors, calming water features, courtyards, natural-light-filled corridors and art-decorated clinics. The hospital also features high-tech operating rooms and state-of-the-art-technology throughout, officials said.

The hospital has been constructed with future hurricanes in mind too: Its ground level is raised and critical services, such as emergency and operating rooms, are located on higher floors.