After six years of building high-rise residences, the townhouse market leader Pruksa Real Estate Plc is targeting more foreign condominium buyers and taking the next step to becoming a major global developer.

The Cubic Hub is not just a temporary sales office but an integral and permanent design feature at the award-winning Pruksa condominium Urbano Absolute Sathon-Taksin.

"We are not just expanding our international operations, but rather developing ourselves to meet the strictest international standards and raising our product quality and image," said Prasert Taedullayasatit, the chief business officer.

The company's first stage lasted from its establishment in 1993 until 2005 with a focus on townhouses, in which it led the market. The second stage since 2005 has made Pruksa a full-line developer.

Internationally, it has developed townhouses, single houses and duplexes in India and low-rise condominiums in the Maldives and Vietnam. In Thailand, it develops condos in a wide price range.

From 2007-11, the company launched 26 condominiums in Thailand worth a combined 25 billion baht, with 80% of the units sold.

Real Estate Information Center figures show Pruksa's share of the condominium market climbed from 0.2% in 2007 to a peak of 3.2% in 2009, declining to 2.2% last year and amounting to 1.2% in the first two months of this year.

The company now has nine condominium brands covering a wide range of segments, from Board of Investment-sponsored projects to luxury units.

It outsources its project designs to 10 design firms for fresh ideas.

The company expects its recent international award for its latest condominium will cement its reputation among high-end buyers, said Mr Prasert.

Last week in Shanghai, the Urbano Absolute Sathon-Taksin won the High-Rise Architecture for Thailand at the International Property Awards 2011, staged in association with Bloomberg Television.

Lobby is for buyers and residents alike.

The project was designed by the Bangkok-based architects The Beaumont Partnership.

Varansriri Varongsurat, a partner and project director at Beaumont, said a key concept was the project's "Cubic Hub", which functions as a lobby where condo buyers and other visitors can hang out.

The conventional approach is for a sales office to act as a show unit and be removed once construction starts, she said. Instead, Urbano Absolute's sales office is the permanent Cubic Hub.

"Trends in condominium lifestyles are changing. Projects are first of all a condominium, second an office and third a hangout. The Cubic Hub is set apart from the main building for use as a free-standing pavilion for relaxation and socialising," said Ms Varansriri.

She said the separate one-storey Cube imparts a sense of being in a low-rise housing estate where residents can mingle in an open area.

The 40-storey building will occupy 3.2 rai on Krung Thon Buri Road near the Taksin Bridge, with units priced from 90,000 to 120,000 baht a square metre. Eighty percent of the 593 units have been sold since the launch in October.

Mr Prasert said Pruksa was upgrading itself from a local developer building mainly townhouses to an international operator tapping the high-end market.

It plans to increase its proportion of foreign buyers from the current 10%.

"We'll be a major global developer within 5-7 years, operating in many regions," he added.