>DocWatson42 at 01:48, 8 July 2021

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{{Short description|American architect}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Didi Contractor
| image = Didi aka Delia Narayan Contractor, H2019030865834 (cropped).jpg
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_name = Delia Kinzinger
| birth_date = 1929
| birth_place = [[Minneapolis]], Minnesota, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date|2021|7|5}} (aged 91)
| death_place = [[Sidhbari]], India
| known_for = Sustainable building in India
| education = [[University of Colorado Boulder]] & self-taught
| occupation = Architect
| spouse = Narayan Contractor
| children = [[Kirin Narayan]]
| parents = Edmund & Alice Fish Kinzinger
}}

'''Delia Narayan "Didi" Contractor''' (née '''Kinzinger'''; 1929 – July 5, 2021) was an American architect known for her work on sustainable building in India,{{r|ad|giaracuni|wa|tbi|ix}} using adobe, bamboo and stone for materials. She was a recipient of the [[Nari Shakti Puraskar]], India's highest civilian award for recognising the achievements and contributions of women.{{r|earthville}}

==Life==
Born Delia Kinzinger{{r|giaracuni}} in [[Minneapolis]],{{r|bba}} she was the daughter of [[Expressionist painting|expressionist painters]] Edmund Kinzinger and Alice Fish Kinzinger, both associated with the [[Bauhaus]] movement.{{r|giaracuni}} Her father was German, from [[Pforzheim]], Grand Duchy Baden. Her mother was American.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.vintagetexaspaintings.com/artists/411-edmund-daniel-kinzinger-paintings|title=Edmund Daniel Kinzinger Paintings | Vintage Texas Paintings|website=Charles Morin's Vintage Texas Gallery}}</ref> Her parents married in Germany in 1927, and moved to Minneapolis where her father worked as an exchange teacher. They returned to Germany, but left it for Paris in 1933. They moved to [[Waco, Texas]] in 1935, where her father was first assistant professor, later professor and finally head of the Art Department of [[Baylor University]].{{r|staatsgalerie}}

She grew up in New Mexico and Texas, and took a year off from school to work in theatre,{{r|ix}} She was first trained in art by her father and Hans Hofmann in New York,{{r|giaracuni}} and then studied art at the [[University of Colorado Boulder]],{{r|wa}} where she met her husband, Indian building contractor Narayan Contractor. They moved to [[Nashik]] in the 1950s, and to [[Mumbai]] in the 1960s, raising three children.{{r|wa|bba}} After separating from her husband she moved to the [[Kangra Valley]] in India in the 1970s.{{r|wa}}

Contractor's daughter is author and academic [[Kirin Narayan]]. Narayan has written about the Contractor household in Mumbai, in a beachside compound in [[Juhu]] which Contractor ran as a combination youth hostel and literary salon, in her memoir ''My Family and Other Saints''.{{r|outlook}} Her son, Devendra Contractor, also became an architect. The children studied in the U.S.{{r|zimmerman}}

Contractor died at home in [[Sidhbari]] on July 5, 2021, at age 91.{{r|varghese}}

==Buildings==
[[file:Ram Nath Kovind presenting the Nari Shakti Puruskar for the year 2018 to Ms. Delia Narayan Contractor, H2019030865834.jpg|thumb|President [[Ram Nath Kovind]] presenting the [[Nari Shakti Puruskar]] to Didi Contractor in 2019]]
Contractor was self-taught in architecture and was inspired as a child by a talk by [[Frank Lloyd Wright]]. She specialised in buildings that fit into, rather than contrast with, the landscape, and are made of natural local materials: mainly mud, bamboo, and stone, with small amounts of [[Cedrus deodara|deodar]] wood. They also include frequent use of [[staircase]]s as a design element. They can be found in the area around [[Dharamsala]], and include over 15 homes and three institutions, including the Nishtha Rural Health, Education and Environment Center in [[Sidhbari]], the Sambhaavnaa Institute of Public Policy and Politics in [[Palampur, Himachal Pradesh|Palampur]], and the Dharmalaya Institute in [[Bir, Himachal Pradesh|Bir]].{{r|ad|wa}}

==Recognition==
Contractor was the subject of two feature films, ''Earth Crusader'' (2016),{{r|tbi}} and ''Didi Contractor: Marrying the Earth to the Building'' (2017).{{r|giaracuni}} She was the 2017 winner of the Women Artists, Architects and Designers (WADe) Asia Life Time Achievement Award.{{r|tbi}}

In 2019 the president of India gave her the [[Nari Shakti Puraskar]], India's highest civilian award for recognising the achievements and contributions of women.{{r|earthville|toi}}

==References==
{{reflist|refs=

<ref name=ad>{{citation|url=https://www.architecturaldigest.in/content/meet-octogenarian-architect-speaks-language-mud-clay/|title=Meet the octogenarian architect who speaks the language of mud and clay|magazine=Architectural Digest|date=September 13, 2017|first=Parikshit|last=Rao}}</ref>

<ref name=bba>{{citation|url=https://www.bba-online.de/news/earth-crusader-vom-bauen-mit-lehm/|title=Dokumentarfilm / "Earth Crusader" – vom Bauen mit Lehm|magazine=bba|date=July 10, 2017|language=de}}</ref>

<ref name=earthville>{{citation|url=https://earthville.org/stories/education/2019/03/didi-contractor-receives-indias-highest-civilian-honor-for-women/|title=Didi Contractor Receives India's Highest Civilian Honor for Women|work=Earthville|date=March 21, 2019}}</ref>

<ref name=giaracuni>{{citation|url=http://didi-contractor-documentary.com/|title=Didi Contractor: Marrying the Earth to the Building|first=Steffi|last=Giaracuni|year=2017}}</ref>

<ref name=ix>{{citation|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/express-sunday-eye/unto-the-earth-didi-contractors-oeuvre-is-a-story-of-rare-beauty-5023346/|title=Unto the Earth: Didi Contractor's oeuvre is a story of rare beauty|newspaper=[[The Indian Express]]|date=January 14, 2018|first=Shiny|last=Varghese}}</ref>

<ref name=outlook>{{citation|first=Bhaichand|last=Patel|date=November 10, 2008|magazine=[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook]]|title=An Old Haunt: A tale of turbulent adolescence and life in a bicultural household, we visit '60s Bombay and a mystic's haven|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/an-old-haunt/238887}}</ref>

<ref name=staatsgalerie>{{citation|url=https://www.staatsgalerie.de/g/sammlung/sammlung-digital/einzelansicht/sgs/werk/einzelansicht/F18127E8542F4B1EB1C3376215CEA857.html |publisher=[[Staatsgalerie Stuttgart]]|title=Edmund Daniel Kinzinger (1888–1963) / Paris, Seinebrücke und Häuser, 1913 |date=2016|language=de}}</ref>

<ref name=tbi>{{citation|url=https://www.thebetterindia.com/135299/didi-contractor-sustainable-architecture-eco-friendly-houses/|magazine=The Better India|title=This Self-Taught Octogenarian Has Been Creating Sustainable Homes for 30 Years!|date=March 22, 2018|first=Syeda|last=Farida}}</ref>

<ref name=toi>{{citation|newspaper=Times of India|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/from-masons-barbers-to-creators-of-forests-and-sustainable-homes-nari-shakti-takes-charge/articleshow/68325852.cms|title=From masons, barbers to creators of forests and sustainable homes, nari shakti takes charge|first=Ambika|last=Pandit|date=March 8, 2019}}</ref>

<ref name=varghese>{{citation|newspaper=[[The Indian Express]]|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/life-style/didi-contractor-champion-of-low-waste-buildings-is-no-more-nari-shakti-puraskar-7390195/|title=Didi Contractor, champion of low-waste buildings, is no more|first=Shiny|last=Varghese|date=July 6, 2021}}</ref>

<ref name=wa>{{citation|url=https://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/ehegh/didi_contractor_a_selftaught_architect_who_builds_in_mud_bamboo_stone.html|title=Didi Contractor: A Self-Taught Architect Who Builds In Mud, Bamboo & Stone|magazine=World Architecture|date=May 11, 2018}}</ref>

<ref name=zimmerman>{{citation|magazine=Trend|url=https://trendmagazineglobal.com/architecture-for-the-senses/|title=Architecture for the Senses|first=Nancy|last=Zimmerman|date=August 5, 2020}}</ref>

}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name}}
* {{citation|url=https://pro.magnumphotos.com/Catalogue/Marilyn-Silverstone/1960/INDIA-East-West-wedding(joint-family)-NN160794.html|title=East-West wedding|year=1960|first=Marilyn|last=Silverstone|author-link=Marilyn Silverstone|publisher=Magnum Photography}}. Silverstone's photo-essay on Didi Contractor, "East-West wife", was published in ''Coronet'' magazine, November 1960.
* [[Kirin Narayan|Narayan, Kirin]]: [https://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/568201.html My Family & Other Saints] (excerpts) press.uchicago.edu
* Singh, Joginder: [https://www.immaterialonline.com/didi-contractor-interview/ Didi Contractor / Ideas and Concerns] (interview) immaterialonline.com

{{Nari Shakti Puraskar}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Contractor, Didi}}
[[Category:1929 births]]
[[Category:2021 deaths]]
[[Category:21st-century American architects]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian architects]]
[[Category:University of Colorado Boulder alumni]]
[[Category:Nari Shakti Puraskar winners]]
[[Category:American emigrants to India]]
[[Category:20th-century American architects]]
[[Category:American women architects]]
[[Category:Indian women architects]]
[[Category:Architects from New Mexico]]
[[Category:Architects from Texas]]
[[Category:American people of German descent]]
[[Category:Indian people of German descent]]
[[Category:20th-century American women]]
[[Category:21st-century American women]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian people]]

Didi Contractor - Revision history

>DocWatson42 at 01:48, 8 July 2021