The production of functional crystalline frameworks is arguably the ultimate goal of DNA nanotechnology, and surely one of its most applicable outcomes. Methodologies have been developed to create a variety of DNA-based arrays with high spatial resolution in 1D and 2D, and a number of routes exists to extend geometrical control to the third dimension. None of the available approaches, however, has been able provide a general route for the preparation of 3D DNA frameworks that combine high porosity, embedded functionality, robustness to design changes, and the ability to retain local order over large lengthscales. Frameworks with these characteristics would enable the production of programmable materials in which functional macromolecules, quantum dots, fluorophores, or non-structural DNA motifs are precisely arranged in space, revolutionizing areas of advanced technology including energy storage, photonics, sensing, and molecular sieving. Building units in the form of tensegrity triangles have been shown to form diffracting single crystals with a remarkable ∼4Å resolution, and overall dimensions exceeding 100 µm. However, the compact geometry and rigidity of these building blocks, and the required bond directionality, places substantial limits on the accessible rage of free volume, lattice parameters, and the possibility of embedding bulky responsive motifs. Approaches based on DNA "origami' and single-stranded (ss) DNA "bricks", can produce 3D architectures of arbitrary shape, which are however very compact, limiting diffusion of solutes and leaving little space to incorporate active elements or molecular cargo. An exception is represented by open origami frameworks and by the recently introduced origami-based tenesegrity triangles that form a scaled-up version of the analogous nanoscale lattices, enabling the incorporation of nanoparticles. In all cases, the complexity of origami requires cumbersome sample preparation protocols leading to low yields and high costs. Furthermore, as for wireframe DNA lattices, these approaches have not yet been shown to produce periodic arrays over macroscopic lengthscales.