The Pinwheel House was designed by architect and writer Peter Blake as a vacation residence for his family. The defining feature of the house was its wall configuration: the four walls were composed of a system of large floor-to-ceiling glass windows and plywood panels. Both the quarter-inch-thick plate glass windows and the white-painted plywood panels were mounted on a metal track system running the length of each facade. These walls could slide along the track, allowing the resident to decide how much or how little air and light to let in. When all four wooden panels were extended at once, it gave the house the appearance of a pinwheel in plan.