One design for underwater human inhabited environments is to have equal pressure between the surrounding water and the submerged habitat, thus allowing a section of the floor to be open to the water and removing the necessity for strong plating to protect it. This requires the air pressure within the environment to be greater than atmospheric pressure so that it can withstand the pressure of both the atmosphere and the pressure from the overlying water.
So how much pressure can the human body survive in without need for special suits and breathing apparatuses (as this would place a limit on how deep you could build such an environment without special accommodation)?
Edit: So far i've found an article about a man trapped in a sunken boat who survived for days in an air pocket trapped in the bathroom 100 feet down. He couldn't resurface without the use of a diving bell and gradual decompression; but this case provides a lower bound for how high the highest pressure can be.
Calculations: 14.7 psi (atm pressure) + 1200 inches*0.037 psi/in^3 = 60 psi for the underwater pocket (roughly 4 times atmospheric pressure). http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/12/131204-nigerian-air-bubble-survival-shipwreck-viral-video-science/
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