What area? What weight? We need specifics in order to make claims one way or the other. It’s not just possible, but easy to design machines with lower weight to surface area ratio, so it’s just wrong to conclude the answer to the question can do we better is somehow no.
You can get a phd answering this question, something I do not have. What I have done is talk to such phd's - 5 years ago. I'm not giving more details because I don't remember more. I remember this much because it stood out to me as so non-obvious.