Yes, I know it might not be practical to do this without errors and there’s reasons like running utilities through and quality control with inexperienced workers, but technically speaking, could you make stronger structures with less materials using stronger structural shapes? Maybe it’s just more pleasing to our eyes everything being straight and square and such, but what about utility canopies and tents where you want to have your structural members as light and portable as possible? Why do we not have tetrahedron shaped tents that have 3 small, collapsible, yet rigid poles and a firing they go in at the top instead of having long flexible ones?
In: Engineering
It’s standard [in roofing](https://www.menards.com/main/building-materials/trusses-i-joists-engineered-lumber/roof-trusses/c-5658.htm), which requires cross-support to both hold itself up, and only exert downward force on the walls (a simple sloped roof without support would put outward force on the walls, which they’re not designed to resist.)
It’s [a thing](https://trimjoist.com/) in joists as well. It’s just not economical – the additional labor in constructing them is significantly more than the materials cost of just buying a solid piece of wood of equivalent size. They mainly get used in long, unsupported spans, where you can’t really get a single piece of lumber of the appropriate length and strength.
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