Healthcare SERIES • Project FEATURE
Light and Connection – Medika 10 by Paredes + Aleman Arquitectos
As a sequence of connected atmospheres, the complex is a tribute to light, human scale, and the fluid transition between functionality and sensorial richness.
Located in one of Guatemala City’s most vibrant districts, Medika 10 stands at the intersection of 6th and 7th Avenues in Zone 10 — a bustling area where commercial activity, pedestrian flows, and urban rhythm converge. The design responds sensitively to this context: the food court building rises as a sculpted volume, purposefully rotated to address the corner and guide both vehicular and pedestrian access into the complex. This move not only defines the entrance but allows natural light to pour into the interior, reinforcing a sense of openness and transparency that becomes the project's architectural language. From the faceted design of the food court building to the dynamic skylights in the central lobby, each spatial decision is a deliberate act of turning the ordinary into a meaningful experience.
"A corner, a vision, a transformative experience to be explored with all the senses."
The conceptual foundation — initiated by the late architect Davide Garda with the design of the medical tower — was taken up and expanded by Paredes + Alemán Arquitectos. Their approach was not to impose, but to complete and enrich. The result is a coherent, organic whole where each architectural element belongs to a greater system celebrating connection, wellbeing, and light. At the heart of the project lies the main lobby. More than a passageway, it is a central node that unifies the commercial zones, food court, and transitional clinic corridors. Its most defining feature is a matrix of zenithal skylights: twenty-four truncated hexahedrons, each angled differently to let daylight enter in a variety of ways throughout the day. This geometric array transforms the user’s path into a shifting canvas of light and shadow, a contemplative space where architecture becomes illumination.
This philosophy extends across the complex, particularly in the corridors between clinics, which were designed as open, ventilated, and naturally lit areas. Vertical circulation is achieved via a stairwell core that runs across all thirteen floors of the tower, highlighted by two mural artworks, each stretching 46 metres in height. These installations serve as visual landmarks, reinforcing the sense of continuity and adding warmth and identity to the journey through the building. From the entrance on 6th Avenue, the project proposes a continuous pedestrian route that links distinct spatial moments — from the food court and main entrance to the tower’s retail base and finally the commercial façade along 7th Avenue. Each segment of this pathway carries its own character yet belongs to a shared architectural language that privileges material subtlety, precise geometry, and constant dialogue with natural light.
"From a play of geometries to monumental murals, it invites us to rediscover the connection between city, health, and design."
Paredes + Alemán Arquitectos demonstrate impressive conceptual maturity in this project. Rather than resolving the commission as a collection of standalone functions, they conceived Medika 10 as an interconnected urban ecosystem. Architecture here does not simply fulfil a program — it proposes new ways of inhabiting the everyday, dignifying the experience of spaces that, in other contexts, might feel purely utilitarian. The faceted geometry is not just a formal gesture. In the food court building, for instance, the rotation of the volume is not decorative — it’s a deliberate strategy to invite natural light, enhance its urban presence, and create a visual landmark at the corner. Such precision in spatial decisions reveals a thoughtful design process, where every move has emotional, functional, and aesthetic intent.
Visual continuity is reinforced by a restrained and warm material palette that subtly frames the user experience without overwhelming it. Light-toned surfaces and natural textures invite calm, emphasising clarity, cleanliness, and accessibility — essential values in a healthcare setting. One of the project’s greatest achievements is its ability to transform the institutional into the personal. Medika 10 feels less like a traditional medical centre and more like a small internal neighbourhood — a place where architecture guides, uplifts, and gently nurtures daily urban life. This quality, far from incidental, is the result of thoughtful attention to scale, proportion, and light as primary design tools.