A system and method for constructing a bounding volume hierarchical structure are disclosed. The method includes defining a parent node for the bounding volume hierarchical structure, the parent node including a parent node bounding volume enclosing a plurality of objects. A first cost is computed for performing an object partition of the parent node bounding volume to produce a first plurality of child node bounding volumes, and a second cost is also computed for performing a spatial partitioning of the parent node bounding volume to produce a second plurality of child node bounding volumes. The bounding volume hierarchical structure is constructed employing the second plurality of child node bounding volumes produced from the spatial partitioning of the parent node bounding volume if the second cost is lower than the first cost.