View the image gallery of the Venice Beach house.

Established in 1905 as the ‘Coney Island of the Pacific’, Venice Beach – on the Southern Californian coast –  has long been regarded as a hub for artistic expression. An enclave for the beat generation in the 1960s, the suburb with a circus feel has more recently provided a platform for architects to exercise their wildest imaginations. Streets once lined with 1920s cottages now showcase works by Frank Gehry, Morphosis and Coop Himmelblau.

Among them is the Panel House, designed by architect David Hertz for client Thomas Ennis. On the site of a former cottage – once occupied by rock god Jim Morrison – stands a four-bedroom, five-bathroom glass and steel house, clad in an unusual material. Its walls are constructed of lightweight prefab aluminium panels, lined with urethane foam, similar to refrigerator siding.

Inside, there are few supporting walls and those that exist are made from glass, to optimise the ocean views. From the family room at the rear of the home, it is possible to see through the living and dining areas to the front window, a distance of 27 metres.

Keeping the house’s vast expanses of glass has not presented a problem for Ennis, who founded a company that manufactures automated washing systems for cars, trucks and trains, plus the public buses of New York and Los Angeles.

 And, as you might expect from an owner who holds more than 20 patents on various cleaning gadgets, the house’s interior is also filled with high-tech devices and equipment, including a 3m x 4.5m picture window that disappears into the floor; a fire pit in the living room and a bed that can be drawn up to the ceiling on wires to create more floor space.

View the image gallery of the Venice Beach house.