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On a quiet residential street lined with unassuming homes and white picket fences in Gliwice, Poland, one building is not like the rest. Its a hulking, bright silver structure that’s covered entirely in pipes. This eye-catching building is the new headquarters for Gambit, a Polish pipe distribution company specializing in underground water systems. Designed by the architecture firm KWK Promes, the headquarters takes Gambits building materials aboveground, transforming pipes from a utilitarian necessity into an aesthetic material that encases the buildings entire exterior. The result is a visually striking structure that cleverly merges architecture with product advertising. [Photo: Juliusz Sokołowski/courtesy KWK Promes] Building a headquarters out of pipes While the idea to create an office entirely covered in pipes might seem like an avant-garde concept, it actually started as a cost-saving measure. The idea to use pipes on the facade came up when the investorthe company Gambitasked us to design an office-warehouse building that would serve as its unique showcase, but at the lowest possible cost,” says Robert Konieczny, founder of KWK Promes. “We then thought that since they deal with specialized pipes, we could use this very materialespecially since they could acquire it at cost price. The concept of using Gambits actual pipes was short-lived, as Konieczny’s team quickly discovered that PVC pipes meant for underground use are prone to oxidizing in the sun, tend to be quite bulky, and dont meet Polish fire safety requirements. Still, the firm wanted to follow through on the idea of transforming Gambits building material into a custom cladding that would resemble a stack of pipes.” Ultimately, they found a way to make it happen without breaking the bank. [Photo: Juliusz Sokołowski/courtesy KWK Promes] To mimic Gambits pipes, KWK Promes commissioned custom silver tubes from a metal fabrication company, each made from inexpensive raw aluminum sheetinga material the company has also used for projects like an apartment complex in Katowice, Poland, and a futuristic mountain home. KWK Promes explained on the Archello platform that as an added advantage, the aluminum sheeting develops a patina over time, taking on a matte, raw character reminiscent of concrete.” Importantly, the firm added, “the sheet is incredibly durable and virtually indestructible, making it easy to maintain. This is crucial for us because the operation of buildings generates up to 30% of CO2 emissions, so we always seek simple, low-maintenance solutions. [Photo: Juliusz Sokołowski/courtesy KWK Promes] The final structure includes a two-story office section with sloping walls, a cube-shaped warehouse to hold the companys inventory, and a lower workshop section. The entire exterior is fitted with piping, while rooftop skylights and glass windows allow natural light into the working spaces. Inside, concrete walls and flooring have been added to mimic the building’s eventual aging process. [Photo: Juliusz Sokołowski/courtesy KWK Promes] A multifunctional material Aesthetically, the cladding comes about as close to resembling a stack of pipes as a building could get, lending parts of the structure the disconcerting sense that it might be moments from rolling away. From certain angles, the sides of the tubing create a striped pattern, while other angles of the building take on a honeycomb pattern from the open ends of the pipes. KWK Promes also hopes that beyond its visual advantages, the pipe cladding might serve a purpose for the surrounding environment. [Photo: Juliusz Sokołowski/courtesy KWK Promes] Initially, at the investors suggestion, the design included protective nets for the pipes,” Konieczny explains. “Over time, however, we decided to leave the pipes open so that, for example, birds could make their home there. In the end, we managed to convince the investor to abandon the netsalthough it’s hard to say whether it was the ecological arguments or the financial ones that convinced them more, as this decision significantly reduced the implementation costs. In an era when remote and hybrid work arrangements increasingly influence the way office interiors are designed, the Gambit headquarters is a reminder that theres still plenty of room for innovation on an offices exterioreven in an industry that rarely sees the light of day.
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E-Commerce
Oceans cover about 70% of the Earths surface, yet the ocean floor remains largely untouched by humans. But perhaps not for long. A Canadian-based firm called the Metals Co. (TMC) recently announced plans to ask the Trump administration to allow it to mine the deep seabed for valuable critical metals in the Pacific Ocean. President Donald Trump is reportedly considering an executive order that would speed up permitting for deep-sea mining, which has prompted outrage from other countries. While some small and exploratory deep-sea mining operations already exist, the practice has yet to happen on a large commercial scale, partly due to fears that it could cause catastrophic damage to the pristine seafloor environment and the wealth of life harbored there. But the worsening climate crisis and the urgent need to transition away from fossil fuels has put deep-sea mining in the spotlight. Clean energy technologies like solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries contain critical minerals like nickel, lithium, cobalt, copper, and manganese, and concerns are growing over whether well have enough of these materials to meet near-term net-zero goals. Some companies have pitched deep-sea mining as a solution. But would the risks be worth the potential rewards? Into the deep TMCs mining process would involve collecting potato-size balls of rock, known as polymetallic nodules, that rest gently on top of the seafloor sediment and contain various critical minerals. These nodules have formed over millions of years, and they carpet vast swathes of the seabed. A large rover-like machine would be lowered from a ship down to the seafloor where it would gather the nodules and send them back up to the ship. (To give you a sense of depth, the area in the Pacific where TMC wants to mine, called the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), is a deep-sea abyssal plain some 2.5 miles down and is estimated to hold 21 billion tons of nodules.) The water and sediment that comes up with the nodules would then be pumped back into the ocean. A 2021 concept rendering of a Metals Co. mining device [Image: Bjarke Ingels Group/The Metals Co.] The company says it would pay careful attention not to harm the integrity of the deep-ocean ecosystem during this process and plans to use a real-time monitoring program that will enable it to adapt, pause, and change . . . operations to stay within expected ecological thresholds.” But the nodules themselves are an essential part of that ecosystem, and removing them would have consequences. Nodules are among the only hard surfaces in a vast plain of sludgy sediment, and serve as a habitat for many slow-growing and unique creatures, including sea sponges, corals, and octopuses. And the CCZ likely contains many thousands of species that have yet to be identified. Research suggests that removing the nodules would lead to a loss of food-web integrity and a significant depreciation of faunal biodiversity. Disturbing the ocean food web could have cascading effects, putting many fish populations at risk and threatening the livelihoods and food security of millions of people. (The Trump administration did not respond to request for comment by the time of publication.) There are other concerns. The mere presence of the rover itself in an environment that has remained untouched for millennia would likely disturb its living organisms, most of which exist in the top 2 inches of sediment, explains Oliver Ashford, a marine biologist with the World Resources Institutes Ocean Program. The organisms there aren’t really adapted to rapidly changing currents and being thrown around and disrupted, he says. They’re quite delicate organisms normally. So the physical interaction with that machine might cause death. A recent study published in the journal Nature found that life at a small deep-sea mining test site in the CCZ is still recovering four decades after the tests were conducted. The creatures that arent physically disturbed by the rover could be harmed by changes in temperature, light, and sound. The activity could stir up large plumes of sediment that get picked up by ocean currents and spread across hundreds of miles, smothering and starving sponges and coral and disrupting fishing activities. Theres even some concern that mining could interfere with the oceans natural ability to sequester carbon and produce oxygen, further harming the Earths climate. TMC doesnt deny that deep-sea mining comes with environmental risks, but says the clean energy transition will require trade-offs. Whos in charge around here? The U.N.s International Seabed Authority is responsible for setting environmental and financial regulations for the nascent deep-sea mining industry, but has yet to do so even after years of deliberations. Theyre developing regulations from scratch for an industry that could potentially have a large environmental impact, Ashford says of the ISA. I feel like it’s a process that shouldn’t be rushed. But the sluggish pace of this rulemaking has frustrated some mining firms, including TMC, that are tired of waiting. Technically the United States doesnt have to wait for the ISA to give mining the go-ahead because it never ratified the UN Law of th Sea, the 1994 treaty that put the ISA in charge of seabed mining. This is why TMC has come knocking on Trumps door. The company promises a massive and rapid injection of metals into the U.S. if its allowed to mine the seabed. This is important because demand for critical minerals is expected to more than double by 2030 and triple by 2040 as clean energy technology advances. While mineral reserves are abundant on land, production tends to be concentrated in a handful of countriesin China especiallywhich makes the supply chain unreliable. In the U.S., for example, more than 80% of critical minerals are imported. And heightened trade tensions will further tighten supply: China recently restricted exports of seven rare earth elements in response to Trumps tariffs on Chinese goods. Lack of investment has also made it difficult to rapidly scale up mineral production. Deep-sea mining, therefore, is a path to making real progress toward solving our supply chain problem, TMC says in a promotional video. TMC also argues that deep-sea mining would be less harmful for the environment than terrestrial mining activities. Its true that land mining contributes to pollution, resource depletion, and damage to biodiversity. Mining, by its nature, is not a zero-harm activity. It poses significant risks to the environment and local communities, writes Melissa Barbanell at the World Resources Institute. But its not clear that deep-sea mining would be more sustainable than land mining, and TMC admits that seabed mining is unlikely to replace land mining anytime soon. Peering into the future Some groups predict that rapid technological advances, improved recycling methods, and robust circular economies would be enough to help us use the minerals we have more efficiently, eliminating the need for deep-sea mining altogether. Future mineral demand can be met without deep seabed mining, declared the World Wildlife Fund in a report finding that innovations could curb demand for critical minerals by 20% to 58% by 2050. As with so many new technologies, figuring out whether deep-sea mining is a good idea or a bad one isnt straightforward. A paper published in the journal Ocean Sustainability a few years ago tried to look at the question through an economic lens. The researchers wanted to know: Of all the key stakeholdersfrom mining companies to governments to humanity at largewho really benefits from deep-sea mining, and by how much? Our conclusion was that only the commercial mining companies are likely to get some profit, and it’s not much, says Ussif Rashid Sumaila, a professor of ocean and fisheries economics at the University of British Columbia, and lead author on the paper. The analysis found that revenues would likely be huge for deep-sea mining companies in the first few years while demand for minerals is high, but would drop off as the market is flooded and prices come down. Combine this with high operational costs and the threat of numerous expensive lawsuits, and the long-term viability of deep-sea mining looks tenuous. Some companies, like the Norwegian firm Loke Marine Minerals, have already gone bust due to funding troubles. As for another key stakeholdernatureSumailas paper concluded that the costs of managing environmental damage caused by deep-sea mining will likely be astronomical. Look, he says, sometimes you just have to leave things alone.
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E-Commerce
Substack and Patreon are vying to become creators primary revenue stream. For most influencers, payouts from platforms like Meta or Google arent enough to build a sustainable career. Rather than spending their days hawking products, many creators are turning to direct fan support, and two companies dominate that space: Patreon and Substack. Patreons latest move targets streamers. Its native livestreaming feature, currently in demo and set for a broad rollout this summer, could attract gamers and broadcasters alike. But Substack beat them to it, launching a similar live video tool just three months earlier. As the two platforms expand their offerings, the rivalry for creator loyalty is heating up. The market for creator livestreams Video already performs well on the platform: Its Patreons second-highest-earning media category after podcasting. Many Twitch streamers rely on Patreon as a more stable source of subscription revenue, preferring it to Twitchs unpredictable payouts. With the addition of live video, Patreon is betting that more of these streamers will shift even larger parts of their operations to its platform. Creators can use livestreams to attract new free members, but they can also use it to encourage free members to pay to upgrade to unlock a Live so that creators are earning the most from their fans, writes Drew Rowny, Patreons VP of Product, in an email to Fast Company. Native livestreams will also be a part of our existing ticketed events experience on Patreon. Live will become a part of our tools that already convert 700,000 free memberships to paid each month. But Substack, which was founded four years after Patreon, already has the upperhand. The platform introduced livestreaming to top-performing creators in September, then expanded access sitewide in January. Video is now central to Substacks strategy: 82% of its 250 highest-earning creators are using audio and video in their work. Since its inception, Substack has been a refuge for journalists leaving legacy mediaand its live video feature is now drawing in television anchors as well. Don Lemon and Jim Acosta both stream on Substackand sometimes, they stream together. As of 2025, roughly one in three live videos on the platform are cohosted with another Substack creator. Earlier this month, former MSNBC host Chris Matthews announced hell be streaming there, too. The important thing about live video, community features, or any other publishing tools is that they aren’t just standalone featuresthey’re connected to a network that helps publishers grow both audience and revenue, Substack cofounder Hamish McKenzie writes in an email to Fast Company. That’s what Substack does exceptionally well. Who will win the creator subscription market? Second-stream creator revenue has been Patreons domain for over a decade. But Substack has recently inched its way, courting TikTok creators with big-money incentives. To some extent, the budding strategy has worked. When Hannah Neeleman, the infamous trad wife behind Ballerina Farm, wanted to venture outside of TikTok, she started a Substack newsletter. So have a good many shopping influencers, wanting to more easily insert affiliate links. Not long ago, Patreon would have been these creators only option. Of course, Substack doesnt think of itself as a Patreon competitor. It wants to be known as a wider social media platform, and not just a subscription serviceeven if it continues to tout its five million paid subscriptions. Substack is a destination people visit specifically to discover new voices and find creators to subscribe to,” McKenzie says. “Users willingly engage with all content forms while there, whether it’s livestreaming, reading, watching videos, or listening to podcasts. In that sense, Substack is truly a 360-degree platform, offering creators everything they need. It’s more comparable to YouTube than to Patreon. That doesnt mean Patreon is losing its grip. The company emphasizes that more than half of the $290 billion creator economy comes from direct-to-fan paid programs. The growth of other platforms could just be a sign of an expanding industry. Were seeing more and more platforms helping creators to connect directly with their fanswhich is a great thing for the creator economy, Patreons Rowny writes. Creators can build tighter communities, grow their audience more, and earn more income on Patreon. Were laser-focused on helping creators manage and grow their direct-to-fan businesses.
Category:
E-Commerce
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