diff --git a/src/spatial/mod.rs b/src/spatial/mod.rs
index 8d400578c..cdf5c89f4 100644
--- a/src/spatial/mod.rs
+++ b/src/spatial/mod.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 //! Spatial module (implements a block kd-tree)
 
+pub mod radix_select;
 pub mod triangle;
diff --git a/src/spatial/radix_select.rs b/src/spatial/radix_select.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2397c9eaa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/spatial/radix_select.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+//! Radix selection for block kd-tree tree partitioning.
+//!
+//! Implements byte-wise histogram selection to find median values without comparisons, enabling
+//! efficient partitioning of spatial data during block kd-tree construction. Processes values
+//! through multiple passes, building histograms for each byte position after a common prefix,
+//! avoiding the need to sort or compare elements directly.
+
+/// Performs radix selection to find the median value without comparisons by building byte-wise
+/// histograms.
+pub struct RadixSelect {
+    histogram: [usize; 256],
+    prefix: Vec<u8>,
+    offset: usize,
+    nth: usize,
+}
+
+impl RadixSelect {
+    /// Creates a new radix selector for finding the nth element among values with a common prefix.
+    ///
+    /// The offset specifies how many matching elements appeared in previous buckets (from earlier
+    /// passes). The nth parameter is 0-indexed, so pass 31 to find the 32nd element (median of
+    /// 64).
+    pub fn new(prefix: Vec<u8>, offset: usize, nth: usize) -> Self {
+        RadixSelect {
+            histogram: [0; 256],
+            prefix,
+            offset,
+            nth,
+        }
+    }
+    /// Updates the histogram with a value if it matches the current prefix.
+    ///
+    /// Values that don't start with the prefix are ignored. For matching values, increments the
+    /// count for the byte at position `prefix.len()`.
+    pub fn update(&mut self, value: i32) {
+        let bytes = value.to_be_bytes();
+        if !bytes.starts_with(&self.prefix) {
+            return;
+        }
+        let byte = bytes[self.prefix.len()];
+        self.histogram[byte as usize] += 1;
+    }
+    /// Finds which bucket contains the nth element and returns the bucket value and offset.
+    ///
+    /// Returns a tuple of `(bucket_byte, count_before)` where bucket_byte is the value of the byte
+    /// that contains the nth element, and count_before is the number of elements in earlier
+    /// buckets (becomes the offset for the next pass).
+    pub fn nth(&self) -> (u8, usize) {
+        let mut count = self.offset;
+        for (bucket, &frequency) in self.histogram.iter().enumerate() {
+            if count + frequency > self.nth as usize {
+                return (bucket as u8, count);
+            }
+            count += frequency;
+        }
+        panic!("nth element {} not found in histogram", self.nth);
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn radix_selection() {
+        let dimensions = [
+            (
+                vec![
+                    0x10101010, 0x10101011, 0x10101012, 0x10101013, 0x10101014, 0x10101015,
+                    0x10101016, 0x10101017, 0x10101018, 0x10101019, 0x1010101A, 0x1010101B,
+                    0x1010101C, 0x1010101D, 0x1010101E, 0x1010101F, 0x10101020, 0x10101021,
+                    0x10101022, 0x10101023, 0x10101024, 0x10101025, 0x10101026, 0x10101027,
+                    0x10101028, 0x10101029, 0x1010102A, 0x1010102B, 0x1010102C, 0x1010102D,
+                    0x1010102E, 0x1010102F, 0x10101030, 0x10101031, 0x10101032, 0x10101033,
+                    0x10101034, 0x10101035, 0x10101036, 0x10101037, 0x10101038, 0x10101039,
+                    0x1010103A, 0x1010103B, 0x1010103C, 0x1010103D, 0x1010103E, 0x1010103F,
+                    0x10101040, 0x10101041, 0x10101042, 0x10101043, 0x10101044, 0x10101045,
+                    0x10101046, 0x10101047, 0x10101048, 0x10101049, 0x1010104A, 0x1010104B,
+                    0x1010104C, 0x1010104D, 0x1010104E, 0x1010104F,
+                ],
+                [(0x10, 0), (0x10, 0), (0x10, 0), (0x2F, 31)],
+            ),
+            (
+                vec![
+                    0x10101010, 0x10101011, 0x10101012, 0x10101013, 0x10101014, 0x10101015,
+                    0x10101016, 0x10101017, 0x10101018, 0x10101019, 0x1010101A, 0x1010101B,
+                    0x1010101C, 0x1010101D, 0x1010101E, 0x1010101F, 0x10101020, 0x10101021,
+                    0x10101022, 0x10101023, 0x10101024, 0x20101025, 0x20201026, 0x20301027,
+                    0x20401028, 0x20501029, 0x2060102A, 0x2070102B, 0x2080102C, 0x2090102D,
+                    0x20A0102E, 0x20B0102F, 0x20C01030, 0x20D01031, 0x20E01032, 0x20F01033,
+                    0x20F11034, 0x20F21035, 0x20F31036, 0x20F41037, 0x20F51038, 0x20F61039,
+                    0x3010103A, 0x3010103B, 0x3010103C, 0x3010103D, 0x3010103E, 0x3010103F,
+                    0x30101040, 0x30101041, 0x30101042, 0x30101043, 0x30101044, 0x30101045,
+                    0x30101046, 0x30101047, 0x30101048, 0x30101049, 0x3010104A, 0x3010104B,
+                    0x3010104C, 0x3010104D, 0x3010104E, 0x3010104F,
+                ],
+                [(0x20, 21), (0xB0, 31), (0x10, 31), (0x2F, 31)],
+            ),
+        ];
+        for (numbers, expected) in dimensions {
+            let mut offset = 0;
+            let mut prefix = Vec::new();
+            for i in 0..4 {
+                let mut radix_select = RadixSelect::new(prefix.clone(), offset, 31);
+                for &number in &numbers {
+                    radix_select.update(number);
+                }
+                let (byte, count) = radix_select.nth();
+                if i != 3 {
+                    assert_eq!(expected[i].0, byte);
+                    assert_eq!(expected[i].1, count);
+                }
+                prefix.push(byte);
+                offset = count;
+            }
+            let mut sorted = numbers.clone();
+            sorted.sort();
+            let radix_result = i32::from_be_bytes(prefix.as_slice().try_into().unwrap());
+            assert_eq!(radix_result, sorted[31]);
+        }
+    }
+}