In 2015, Iwo won a scholarship to go to Havana (Cuba) to conduct research.
After spending two months there, he saw the reality of the residents in Havana where deep poverty is next door to luxurious tourism. He wanted to find a way to use architecture as a bridge between these two worlds.
The Ku Leuven graduate developed his project called A Symbiotic Relation of Cooperative Social Housing and Dispersed Tourism in Havana Vieja.
The project seeks to provide not only housing and tourist accommodation; but also a source of income for locals. His project envisions a Havana where residents living in poverty can rent out part of their homes to tourists and using the money to help upgrade their homes.
Borkowicz is one of three winners of the 2016 Young Talent Architecture Award.
