The ten best fictional architects

For the Observer, Rowan Moore came up with a list of the ten best fictional architects. One character on the list:

Otto Silenus, Decline and Fall

Otto Silenus, in Evelyn Waugh’s Decline and Fall, is a modernist fanatic. “The problem of architecture,” he says, “is the elimination of the human element from the consideration of form… I do not think it is possible for domestic architecture to be beautiful, but I am doing my best.” That his name has echoes of Walter Gropius is not a coincidence. He is a brilliant creation – even though he encouraged decades of prejudice against modern architecture

Read about the other architects on Moore's list.

Decline and Fall is one of Douglas Hurd's six best books.

--Marshal Zeringue