There is a difference between having water nearby and living on the water. The first is geographic proximity. The second is a daily relationship that changes how the day begins, how time is perceived, and how the people who share that space relate to one another. The Country Lakes Lake Club is designed for the second.
EDSA and the philosophy of water as an ecosystem
EDSA — the master planning and landscape architecture firm founded in 1960, with offices in New York, Baltimore, and Shanghai — has spent decades designing the relationship between residential communities and bodies of water. Its conviction is that water should not be decoration: it should be part of the ecological and social system of the place.
At Country Lakes, that translates into more than 50 hectares of water bodies that are not ornamental ponds — they are living ecosystems with nutrient cycles, riparian vegetation, aquatic fauna, and a water-quality management program that ensures their clarity and health over the years. The Lake Club sits at the point of greatest visual openness across that entire system.
The Lake Club program
The Lake Club includes:
- A main terrace over the lake — the gathering point at sunset
- A private dock as a lookout over the lake
- A palapa lounge with bar and a food-and-beverage area
- A zone of hammocks and sun loungers facing the water
- Rest and contemplation areas at the water’s edge
- An events hall with a terrace over the lake for private celebrations
The lake as a regulator of the microclimate
One of the least visible but most real advantages of living beside a large body of water is its effect on temperature. Country Lakes’ more than 50 hectares of water act as thermal mass: they absorb heat during the day and release it at night, moderating temperature extremes. In the context of the Yucatán tropics, that translates into a perceptible difference of 2 to 4 degrees Celsius relative to the urban average of Mérida.
“Water is not only what you see — it is what you feel in the air, in the sunset light on the surface, in the sound the place has at six in the morning.”