Island A

Rotation seems to me to be a nice-to-have rather than a minimal requirement
for an initial orbital workshop. Maybe, but if he's intending duty shifts of a year or more, some level of artificial gravity would be good. But with a rotation rate the same as Island 1, but with only a fraction of the diameter, I'm thinking the centrifugal force produced would be much less than a G. "How much is enough" is still an open question, but I suspect some gravity will be better than none. The kind of thing he's talking about is what they called the SpaceManufacturing Facility or SMF(or sometimes the "construction shack") back in the old studies.
Regards,