2 or 4 Legs Laced or Battened Q355B GB 50017 / EN 1993-1-1 / AISC 360 A lattice column places steel where it works and leaves the middle empty. Two or four legs carry the axial load at the corners of a large section, while lacing or batten plates hold them together. The result is a column with the bending stiffness of a much deeper solid member, at a fraction of the weight. Why Leave the Middle Empty Bending capacity depends on how far the material sits from the neutral axis,