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Re: Indoor garden foundation

> I am currently building a 2 floor concrete house, on the slope of a
mountain and I want to install a small indoor garden right in the middle of
the house. I have specified to the contractor to make a 2mt by 2.5 mt room
that is completely enclosed by wall and windows. On the top of the roof I
have installed a window which will be used for ventilation and light.
However, I am worried about the type of foundation that should be required
for these construction. I  worry about handling the humidity, and the
irrigation system to avoid water from building up.
My contractor tells me that a concrete base is necessary to prevent the
soil from sinking. I really don't understand that. If it is indeed
necessary, approximately how deep should the base be so that I have enough
space for the roots to grow?
>
   Is this *right in the middle of the house* atrium-style? On the ground
floor, apparently? In that case unless you're in tropical latitudes it's
going to be like growing plants in a 6.5x8' airshaft - maybe a tree or a
couple of vines to reach for the light and make a leafy canopy (nice idea,
actually) plus some extremely low-light stuff at ground level... won't
require enough water to worry about.
   If it's open to the soil, no problem: that's not going to sink anymore
than the soil outside sinks without concrete under it. Though gravel or
concrete where there isn't soil might be nicer. But where _isn't there
going to be soil? Put a 2' walk in this and you're down to 4.5' of beds -
again, it sounds impracticably small.

   Maybe the whole building has an elaborate drainage system to prevent it
sliding down the mountain, and a concrete drainage subfloor could be plumbed
into that?  What it _ought_ to have is construction that would prevent that
in the worst case - you can't drain the whole mountainside in any event -
and if it does, the small amount of drainage from a carefully-watered plant 
room this size, even under the middle of the house, isn't going to matter.
 
   Likewise humidity: you'll have to get some air movement in a space like
this, which an overhead window isn't going to provide, and the house can
almost certainly use as much humidity as a small plant room would give off,
and more. 

   "Surrounded by wall and windows"?? If this is just intended as a large
indoor planter, I'd suggest a plexi/or/glass cubicle with concealed arti-
ficial lighting, which would grow better plants, display them better, and
be no more expensive than structural work. If you want something like that
open to the soil (as in shopping malls) a shallow freestanding foundation
well would still be desirable to direct drainage some distance below the 
immediate floor and footings, and come to think of it that may be what
the contractor is saying.
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