You can place buildings that you have not researched yet by binding them to a of the numeric hotkeys. You can then highlight a colony and press [Shift] + [number] shortcut to auto-place buildings. Use a text editor such as notepad, to edit the "settings.ini" file in the "\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\SaintXi\LightOfAltair" directory. In the "HOTKEY_[#]" section, there is a one or two digit number that corresponds to the buildings, as follows.

Digit	Description
00	Colony HQ
01	Atmospheric Generator
02	Atmospheric Converter
03	Colonial Quarters
04	Colonial Quarters 2
05	Colonial Quarters 3
06	Hydroponics
07	Aeroponics
08	Farm
09	Solar Array
10	Nuclear Reactor
11	Research Facility
12	Goods Factory
13	*Corporate Hub 2
14	*Corporate Hub 3
15	FuelSynth
16	Drilling Rig
17	*Refinary
18	Landing Area
19	Spaceport
20	Shipyard
21	Mine
22	Orbital Receiver
23	Industrial Center
24	*Radar Facility
25	*Defence Turret
26	Shield Generator
27	Power Station
28	Hyperspace Gate Generator
29	Government Building

Note: Buildings that have an asterisk do not have associated help text and do not appear to have a function during game play.