Fauken was commissioned to design the Allgemeines Krankenhaus in Vienna, which involved renovating the extensive building complex of the 17th-century almshouse for soldiers and the poor. Originally conceived and designed by Prince Karl-Eusebius von Lichtenstein, the Baroque masterpiece featured long galleries with many windows, making it well-suited for its new role as a medical facility where patients could be effectively treated.

“As part of his program of health reform, Joseph II envisioned the centralization into one institution of all hospital care then distributed among a dozen institutions in the city. All endowments still supporting these institutions were to be transferred to the state. The new institution was to be reserved exclusively for sick care and primarily focused on the recovery of physical rather than spiritual wellbeing and non-denominational in character” (Risse, Enlightenment: Medicalization of the Hospital, Vienna 1750-1800).

Joseph II initially envisioned the hospital as a teaching institution, demanding the application of the most advanced scientific principles in its organization and maintenance. The renovation included subdividing the old galleries, eliminating corridors, and reorganizing spaces to accommodate individual patients by wards. The hospital was structured as five independent hospitals, with only the asylum and maternity ward being newly constructed. This separation allowed for better care and purposeful planning of the facility, featuring generous cross ventilation, ample light, and rigorous standards of sanitation and patient care. To ensure ongoing funding, various charitable foundations were amalgamated or dissolved (see Baas, Ourlines of the History of Medine, p. 738)