The psychiatrist Herman Wedel Major planned Gaustad asylum in collaboration with his brother-in-law, the architect Heinrich Ernst Schirmer. The planning of Gaustad took place in parallel with the preparation of the first Norwegian Mental Health Act, adopted by the Storting on 30 July 1848, and Gaustad's architecture provides a good illustration of the ideals behind the mental health reform of the 19th century. In particular, Major's and Schirmer's Gaustad represents a break with Frederik Holst's ideal of the panoptic institution. Whereas Holst and his architect Christian Heinrich Grosch promoted a radial plan institution based on the type used for penitentiaries, Schirmer and Major designed a modern, pavilion-style hospital with wards placed independently in the landscape.