Hello all. My girlfriend and I recently bought an old industrial
warehouse building that we are renovating into a loft residence. It
has very little yard space, so we plan to add some greenspace inside
the building. While repairing the roof we plan to add some very
large skylights and place an 'indoor courtyard' under them. We are
hoping to do something more than just a bunch of potted plants; we
want actual areas of grass and perhaps a pond or fountain. This is
all on a single floor with a very thick concrete foundation, so we
weight should not be a problem.

We have questions about such things as providing proper drainage
and choosing the right shade tolerant plants. What layers of
materials should we use and in what thicknesses? If we can't
place this close to a floor drain, how best should we deal
with the water that drains through? We would love to find
examples of other people doing similar projects, learn what
problems they encountered and how they solved them. Any
resources anyone can point us to would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Thad