I am aware of the bowstring truss type roof that Chris mentions. There was (emphasis on WAS) a fine example in one of our neighboring towns. The building served a variety of purposes over the years from meat packing to it's final guise as a hardwood supplier and carpentry shop. One could see the evidence of years of roof leaks and I suspect marginal repairs due to the steep height to width ratio.

Several winters ago a series of heavy snow storms took a spectacular toll. The roof collapsed with such force as to explode the masonary walls and make the result look like a bomb had gone off. Sadly, an undetected electrical short fueled by an ample supply of kiln-dried hardword produced a grand over night fire that melted most of the machinery.

The lesson to me was the one in all truss design of whether any redundancy exists. When a single member fails all the others can go with it. For many more entertaining examples of this sort, I recommend the reading of "Why Buildings Fall Down" by Matthys Levy and Mario Salvadori, ISBN 0-393-31152-x (1992 Norton paperback)