corner, protrusion
楞 centers on a physical corner or a protruding edge, like the sharp angle of a wooden beam or a jutting part of a structure.
楞 combines 木 (tree/wood) with a phonetic component that likely contributed the sound. The exact historical development of the right side is uncertain, but the character is associated with wooden corners or protruding edges.
The left side is a tree 木, and the right side looks like a net 罒 over a direction 方. Imagine a wooden corner post where a net is hung to mark the protruding edge of a boundary.
For リョウ, picture a protruding corner of a wooden beam in a traditional Japanese inn (旅館, りょかん): the first syllable リョ of りょかん cues the reading リョウ.