91-year-old environmental designer and builder – Delia (Didi) Narayan Contractor – passed away peacefully at her home on July 5, 2021. I had the privilege of working closely with her as a junior architect for three years from 2011 to 2014 in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh. She instilled in me an ethos of critical thinking and I owe a lot of my current growth as a critical researcher of the built environment to those formative years under her tutelage. For this, I am forever grateful. Thank you Didi.
Below is a list of key resources about Didi’s work and ideas which might be useful for future students of architecture and the built environment;
Institutional Buildings (can be visited by general public):
Nishtha Rural Health, Education and Environment Centre – Sidhbari, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh
Sambhaavnaa Institute of Public Policy and Politics – Palampur, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh
Dharmalaya Institute for Compassionate Living – Bir, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh
Mandakini ki Awaz (Community Radio Station) – Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand
Films and Videos:
Earth Crusader, directed by Shabnam Sukhdev
Marrying the Earth to the Building, directed by Steffi Giaracuni
Video of Didi Contractor receiving the the Nari Shakti Purushkar Award from the President of India (skip to 4m 30s)
House Of Earth by Priya Sen
Didi Contractor by Amol Chaphalkar
Books:
An Adobe Revival: Didi Contractor’s Architecture by Joginder Singh
My Family & Other Saints by Kirin Narayan (a memoir about growing up in Didi’s household written by her anthropologist daughter)
Articles, Features, and Interviews:
Remembering Didi Contractor, a Champion of Indigenous Styles in Built Environments
Traditional architecture: A concrete change is underway
The journey of a Mud Mansion: Reminiscing learnings from Didi Contractor
A Himalayan tragedy: The crisis of contemporary mountain dwellings
Didi Contractor of Sidhbari & her architecture reviving traditional practices
The meeting that never happened: Remembering Didi Contractor
Didi Contractor, champion of low-waste buildings, is no more
Didi Contractor: A Self-Taught Architect Who Builds In Mud, Bamboo & Stone
SURFACES REPORTER & WADE ASIA Pays Tribute to Didi Contractor
Mud-house model catches up in Kangra valley
Unto the Earth: Didi Contractor’s oeuvre is a story of rare beauty
दीदी कॉन्ट्रैक्टरः वो आर्किटेक्ट जिन्होंने बिना ट्रेनिंग के वर्ल्ड क्लास इमारतें बना दीं
Self Taught Architect Didi Contractor Passes Away at 91
Didi Contractor – 11 Interesting Things To Know
This Self-Taught Octogenarian Has Been Creating Sustainable Homes for 30 Years!
Meet the octogenarian architect who speaks the language of mud and clay
An octogenarian on a mission to build sustainable homes in mountain terrain, Didi Contractor
Our post-Independence cities are so ugly: Didi Contractor
Didi Contractor Receives India’s Highest Civilian Honor for Women
Down to Earth: The Mud Architecture of Didi Contractor
Savouring sisterhood in the hills
Book Review: An Adobe Revival: Didi Contractor’s Architecture by Joginder Singh
Urban & Economic Geographer 
Thanks, Siddharth, very useful.
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