Destination Adlershof: a city within the city
Scientists, Berliner journalist Paulina Czienskowski recently wrote in the Adlershof Journal, are those curious individuals who spend all their days alone in labs: nerds, lone wolves, oddballs and outsiders. Just how exciting could a city of science be? Extremely exciting, it turns out!
When people think of Berlin, they usually think of the hustle and bustle seen in the city centre. That’s what they come to Berlin for, after all. Many stay there to work. The days are long gone when the Berliners themselves used to call Adlershof as brash as it gets – way outside town. Work in the Deep South-east? Live there? Hold a meeting there? 20 years ago, this was hard to imagine. Nowadays 16,000 people commute to the city of science every day, or live right around the corner in the new neighbourhoods popping up with energy-efficient homes and flats. There are 6,000 college students milling about at the Institute of Natural Sciences at Humboldt University Berlin, writing their doctoral dissertations at one of the ten other scientific institutes within walking distance, or serving an internship at one of the 1,000 companies there, many of which are tied to research or are even global market leaders in their field. In the evenings, they return to their residence halls. In the centre of all of this lies Adlershof, which has shifted closer and closer to Berlin because of its motorway exits, trams, and modern commuter train station. Even the infrastructure of the “city within the city” leaves nothing to be desired.
A few years ago, people naturally went into “the city” for their meetings; now Adlershof is as close to Alexanderplatz as the trade fair centre in the western part of Berlin. Scientists, trade delegations, politicians and administrators from around the world come to Adlershof to learn, to research, to work and to hold their conferences.
Do you need Korean cuisine? That’s not a problem. Pizza, bagels, vegetarian food are around the corner. You can meet the people who are changing the world with their ideas over lunch, people who are fighting cancer, studying traffic flows, securing data transmission, equipping satellites, researching energy storage. When the meetings are over, go to a reading in the fireside lounge, watch a movie in the cinema or a play in the former television studio, or go directly to see Anne Will. Those who plan an event in Adlershof discover a location full of locations: hotels, restaurants, cafés and bistros for every taste, supermarkets, sports facilities, copyshops, banks, flower shops, hair salons, a theatre ticket stand, doctors, solicitors and booksellers.
The 66-hectare landscaped park is a paradise for joggers, skaters, walkers and cyclists. Maybe you’d prefer a sundowner on the rooftop terrace? Would beach volleyball, tennis, boule, basketball or a barbecue catch your fancy? On mild summer evenings you’ll find them right next to the meeting rooms. No one who visits the city of science should skip taking at least one of the many adventure tours offered by Adlershof con.vent. alongside conferences.
Adlershof is a popular event venue and unparalleled in Germany with respect to the variety and constant updating of its offerings.
By Harry Mehner for Adlershof Special