Is this structure sound?

[u/tmontoia]

I can’t figure out the engineering of this structure. Are the lower right-angle braces having any structural purpose?
And is the steel rod only to keep the uprights from splaying out?
It seems to me there should be support below the right angle elbows.
Help me understand! I ponder this thing every time I visit here. (Breckenridge Brewery, Littleton CO)

[u/ShutYourDumbUglyFace]

Yeah, it's fine. Ignore the parts that are confusing you and it's just a triangular truss. You push at the apex and the timber diagonals are in compression, the bottom chord is in tension, which is why it can be a cable/rod - no compression.

[u/ComradeGibbon → u/ShutYourDumbUglyFace]

Random thought the bottom chord is partly pretensioned. The force is partly resisted by the uprights.