Why this ride
76 km from Siemensstadt to Siemensstadt, about 1 h 33 of riding. The stops in between: Großsiedlung Britz, Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf and back through Großsiedlung Britz.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Goßsiedlung Siemensstadt and Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 76 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 33
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Goßsiedlung Siemensstadt
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.
Read the complete Goßsiedlung Siemensstadt write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Goßsiedlung Siemensstadt is where the day begins. Next is Großsiedlung Britz.
2. Großsiedlung Britz
From above, the Hufeisensiedlung, the Horseshoe Estate, looks like a giant horseshoe wrapped around a pond, and from the ground it looks like something rarer, a housing project that people actually love. It was designed by Bruno Taut and Martin Wagner between 1925 and 1930 for a cooperative, as part of the effort in Weimar-era Berlin to give working families light, air and gardens instead of the dark tenements of the nineteenth century. Rows of low terraced houses with their own small gardens curve around a central green, and the façades are painted in strong colours, notably a long blue wall. It is one of six Berlin housing estates that UNESCO listed together in 2008 as examples of modern housing reform.
Read the complete Großsiedlung Britz write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Großsiedlung Britz comes up about 20 km into the recorded legs. Next is Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf.
3. Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf
Bright colours were a weapon for Bruno Taut. The architect believed that good housing could change people's lives, and in the 1920s he designed several large housing estates in Berlin for working and middle class families, with light, airy flats, gardens and shared green spaces. The Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf, better known as Onkel Toms Hütte, Uncle Tom's Cabin, after a nearby inn and the underground station, was built between 1926 and 1931 on the edge of the Grunewald forest, and Taut, working with other architects, painted the houses in strong reds, greens, blues and yellows, so that the estate glows among the pine trees. It is one of the great monuments of modern housing in Germany.
Read the complete Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 38 km into the recorded legs you reach Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf. Next is back through Großsiedlung Britz.
4. back through Großsiedlung Britz
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Großsiedlung Britz write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Großsiedlung Britz, late in the day. Next is Goßsiedlung Siemensstadt.
5. Goßsiedlung Siemensstadt
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Goßsiedlung Siemensstadt write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Goßsiedlung Siemensstadt. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Goßsiedlung Siemensstadt to Großsiedlung Britz
Goßsiedlung Siemensstadt → Großsiedlung Britz is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Großsiedlung Britz to Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf
Großsiedlung Britz → Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf to back through Großsiedlung Britz
Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf → back through Großsiedlung Britz is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Großsiedlung Britz to Goßsiedlung Siemensstadt
back through Großsiedlung Britz → Goßsiedlung Siemensstadt is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.