The study aims at the investigation and analysis of power relations connected to the sanatorium as a buildingtypology within the modernist architectural contest. The chosen building is the tuberculosis sanatorium ofPaimio, located in southwest Finland and built by architects Aino (1894-1949) and Alvar Aalto (1898-1976)between 1928 and 1933. The chosen theoretical framework is therefore based on the theories of Michel Foucault(1926-1984) about power, knowledge and discourse. The method used for this essay is inspired by the architecture theoretician Paul Hirst's notion of architecture as a discourse, its subjectification and a means of communication that changes over time, but also the semiotics of Umberto Eco and its conception of architecture as a double meaning tool.The study proceeds to analyze Paimio sanatorium taking into consideration the relationships between the various components of the building, their placement and formal elements as part of a bigger, institutional and medical discourse.The analysis of Paimio sanatorium has shown not only relevant historical and socio economic background butalso a mutual relationship between architecture and medical discourse capable of influencing each other overtime and space.