Sappenfield to speak during Cultural Fest at Captiva Library
Charles Madison Sappenfield has simply been known as “Charlie” around the campus of Ball State University in Indiana. He is not only the first Dean of the College of Architecture and Planning there, Sappenfield is also a highly-acclaimed architect.
Many of his residences in North Carolina, where he started his first private practice, won awards for their clean, modernist designs and innovative use of materials. He moved to Indiana in 1965 when Ball State hired him to establish its new architecture program and while his focus was on teaching and civic engagement, he continued to design homes and businesses.
Sappenfield will discuss Indiana Designers at 4:30 p.m. Jan. 18 at the Captiva Memorial Library, as part of its Cultural Fest. He will highlight designers who lived or was born in Indiana, including the only U.S. President to hold a patent for a flat boat on the river. Sappenfield defines a designer by “a person who designs something for someone else and someone else to use.”
“It’s not like going to the library to do research, it comes from all different sources,” Sappenfield said about how he gathered some of Indiana’s best designers throughout the state’s 200 year history. “Nat Owings and Lou Skidmore of the nations most famous architectural firm, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, were Hoosiers.”
Sappenfield, who resided in Muncie, Ind. for 30 years, retired in 1995 to Sanibel Island.
The Captiva Memorial Library will also host creator of the Bubble Room Katie Gardenia for an author talk on her new book “A Bubble Moment.” She will be at the library at 4:30 p.m. Jan. 25. All programs are free, supported by the Captiva Memorial Library Board and the Captiva Civic Association.