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
Your basic building plan is a square. The shortest distance across the square is straight across. Lumber cost increases greatly as length goes up. So you want your floor joists to be as short as possible, which is straight across.
A Typical pattern would be a 30×30 square with 16 foot joists. They overlap each other in the center over some sort of support. (15’ from each outer wall to the inner support wall.)
The triangle is also the strongest shape against external forces. Floor joists just push against gravity. They do have not have to oppose forces in multiple directions. So the triangle isn’t needed.
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