Gas permeable devices and methods are disclosed that provide highly efficient cell culture. Gas compartments, made up at least in part of gas permeable material, are dispersed within the culture device in locations that allow cells to remain within a fixed distance from a gas transmission location as the device scales in the horizontal direction. Gas permeable walls of the gas compartment(s) allow gas exchange with the ambient gas. Such an arrangement provides many advantages including the ability to eliminate the need for a gas-liquid interface, allow cell culture to proceed in the static mode (i.e. absent the need for media or gas to be pumped through the device), allow the scale of the device to increase in both the horizontal direction and vertical direction, reduce the rate of media evaporation, allow uncomplicated and low cost device fabrication, and provide the capacity for reduced feeding frequency.