Amid Prakriti Aalay’s natural habitat beside a perennial flowing stream with the Himalayas in the backdrop, our master architect Delia alias Didi Contractor envisioned and executed a luxury resort inspired by traditional aesthetics, vernacular architecture and ecological sensitivity. Didi is a pioneer in responsible eco-construction and winner of many national and international awards. She is inspired by her love of India and the natural beauty of Himachal Pradesh. Didi, now a vigorous 88 plus, was born to a German father and an American mother, both Expressionist painters. Her first years were spent in Europe but she grew up in America and she’s spent her adult life in India. In America she studied art, trained as a painter and married a Gujarati engineer, whom she met when they were both studying at the University of Colorado. In the early 1960’s, Didi discovered a career in decoration with the exciting assignment of designing the interiors for the legendary Lake Palace in Udaipur when it was first converted into a celebrated luxury hotel. Since the late 1970s, Didi has lived in the Kangra valley where she has built many distinctive Eco homes, clinics, retirement resort, craft center and large Institutes: Dharmalaya and Sambhaavnaa.