‘When Jobs decided to build a state-of-the-art factory in Fremont to manufacture the Macintosh, his aesthetic passions and controlling nature kicked into high gear. He wanted the machinery to be painted in bright hues, like the Apple logo, but he spent so much time going over paint chips that Apple’s manufacturing director, Matt Carter, finally just installed them in their usual beige and gray’
The above excerpt (from Walter Issacson’s Steve Jobs biography) perfectly encapsulates the obsession that surrounded not only the Macintosh product, but the environment in which it was created. Jobs was directly involved in the design of the factory, which extended to the colour of the utilities and the structuring of the conveyor-belt intended to deliver a computer every 27 seconds. Although of fairly recent construction (1984), the Fremont factory has gained historical architectural classification for its radical approach to appliance manufacture and its direct relationship with the late Apple Inc. maestro, Jobs.