These buildings are a part of East Cambridge, MA where there is a mixture of old and new industry. The old industry is represented by the brick warehouses, which are being renovated into office buildings. The new industry is represented by the biotech facilities operated by some of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the country. For example, the facility in the background belongs to Novartis. Biotech research is often identified by the numerous hooded ventilation stacks and a variety of large and small stacks. This indicates that either drug laboratories or manufacturing exists at the facility. These biotech companies are populating this East Cambridge neighborhood due to the proximity to MIT, Harvard medical schools and numerous research hospitals in the Boston area.