Renowned psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing established the Purkersdorf Sanatorium in woodlands close to Vienna. In 1904, a new building was commissioned from Josef Hoffmann, a student of Otto Wagner. Hoffmann provided a radically forward-looking design, straight-edged, technologically advanced and hygienic. Working with Koloman Moser and the Wiener Werkstätte, he designed and furnished interiors that were at once severe and extremely fashionable. The therapeutic machinery filling a room on the ground floor inspired a machine-like approach to design.