The Schöneweide quarter is closely linked to the history of the industrialization of Berlin. To this day, Oberschöneweide in evidence to the former strength of the Berlin electrical industry. The aspiring global company AEG built here from 1895 an industrial city with a model character. In GDR times, Oberschöneweide was an important center of the energy industry with about 25,000 employees, who build transformers, switches, cables, tubes and batteries. After the German reunification the factories were closed and the place developed to a science and technology location.

Today, students, artists and families enliven the quarter. High-tech companies are located in the old plants and the University of Applied Sciences has discovered this location for themselves. Just like the musician Bryan Adams and the Danish artist Ólafur Elíasson, who bought some of the old Reinbeck halls and use them as project space or atelier.