I'm a pretty utilitarian guy, so my opinion is that "skeletalization" of the ring or any other elaborate treatments are likely to be more trouble than they're worth, given that this is a middle ring--it's not like it's a main design feature. Also, I think we want it to be pretty robust, since the load on the granny gets transmitted through it. Trying to lighten it too much might reduce its stiffness enough to cause problems.
I say build a simple one, see if it works, then get fancy later if it seems worth it.
Of course, you can also design something by making a prototype that's as light as it can possibly be, run it until it breaks, make a new one that's stronger in the broken area, and repeat as many times as necessary until it no longer breaks. That works, too, but it costs more and takes longer.
JV