Berlin's Siemensstadt began as a factory town. Werner von Siemens's company moved its electrical works to the edge of Spandau from 1899, and by the 1920s a whole district of workshops and workers' housing was growing there. The Großsiedlung Siemensstadt, built between 1929 and 1931, is one of the great modernist housing estates of that decade, designed by a team that included Hans Scharoun, Walter Gropius, Hugo Häring, Otto Bartning and Fred Forbat. It is part of the UNESCO listing of Berlin Modernism Housing Estates, inscribed in 2008.
What distinguishes the estate is the flood of light and air. Long, white blocks of flats run between rows of trees, with balconies, strip windows and flat roofs, laid out so that every flat gets sun and a view of green. Scharoun's curved block, nicknamed the Panzerkreuzer, the battleship, because of its long, ship-like form, is the best known, and Gropius's straight rows give a strong contrast. It was social housing with ambition: architecture to make everyday life better.
The district is now a quiet residential suburb, with about twelve thousand residents, and the estate is still lived in, so be respectful when you walk or park. Berlin traffic is manageable by bike, with plenty of fuel stations, and cafés and bakeries are common along the main streets. The Jungfernheide park, a large green space nearby, is a good place for a break.
For a ride, you are in the northwest of the city, where roads head out toward Spandau's old town and the Havel lakes. The surfaces vary, with some cobbles and tram tracks to watch, and traffic can be dense. Escape to the Brandenburg countryside on weekends, where lanes through pine forests and beech woods are far calmer, including the ancient Grumsin beech forest, another UNESCO site, to the north. Spring and autumn are the best seasons, and a clear morning gives the white facades their sharpest edge.