Living and working in Berlin Adlershof

It only takes half an hour by S-Bahn to get from Berlin Hauptbahnhof to Adlershof. Once you arrive, there’s plenty to discover to either side of the railway that crosses the site. To the east you will find the old town, once upon a time a farm, and today boasting 19th century architecture, a market square, schools, churches, a cinema and shops and restaurants around Dörpfeldstraße, between the historic district of Köpenick, the Teltow canal and “Adlergestell” street.

Historically, the area to the west of the railway has been less tranquil. This is the site of Germany’s first airfield, Johannisthal-Adlershof. It was a place for work, not residence. It has witnessed many a turn of era with the rise and fall of the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, the Nazi regime, the Soviet occupation, the GDR, and the vacation of the site by East Germany’s state television, academy of science, and state security.

There is little to remind us of past upheavals, and mostly only the monuments remain: the ‘Trudelturm’ (a vertical spin tower, built for aerodynamics research), the wind tunnel, the Ehrlich building, the thermo laboratory dubbed the ‘Adlershofer bosom’, and a few 1930s lab and office blocks. Otherwise, this area is so new and futuristic-looking, that one could be forgiven for mistaking the Technology Park for the set of a Stanley Kubrick film.

The main road here is Rudower Chaussee, and the tram running along it connects the university campus, the Technology Park and even a new residential area, further linking the areas to either side of the railway.