Freysinnet, (Marie) Eugène (Léon) (1879–1962)

French engineer. He revealed the full structural potential of reinforced concrete with his technically innovative designs, and later pioneered the use of prestressed concrete. His huge airship hangars in reinforced concrete at Orly 1916–24 (destroyed 1944) were purely functional structures and yet the elegance of their slender, arched forms, rising dramatically out of the ground, made them architectural landmarks. From the 1920s, his experiments in prestressing concrete allowed for the use of ever more slender shapes, as employed in his scheme for rebuilding Le Havre harbour 1946–52.