Corollary objectives for improved urban integration led to the transformation of surface parking into a three-hectare fountain plaza. Closed passages through the building were opened as public rights of way, underground services and parking relieved congestion, and a 55,000m2 mixed-use complex, supplementary but independent of the museum, was designed to help finance the project and reinvigorate the heart of Paris. The half-mile-long Louvre, previously an obstacle to circulation, thus became a vital gathering place and bridge to the surrounding city.