Floor plan design townhouse with a gable roof

My brain as a science guy is overweight on the rational side,

I assume natural scientist, I feel the same way.
3D thinking is part of an engineer's craft.
Fox den blueprints are an abomination to me.

I suspect natural scientists, I feel similarly. 3D thinking is part of the craft of an engineer.

Yes, I also seem to remember that is a natural scientist. But as I understand it, someone who still knows it as part of school capability, even as a non-engineer, does not need a software walker to imagine the third dimension of a 2D drawing.

Fox den floor plans are an abomination to me

I believe it is not fox den floor plans that cause his head shaking, but rather the almost pandemic inability to see a glaring unsuitability in a 2D building plan representation. These can also be stairs in a non-tortuous floor plan that lead straight to a diminishing head height. Or showers in the knee wall, reverse parking toilets and the like. Some house designs are the cheapest M.C. Escher plagiarisms, which analogue natives immediately notice.

But as far as I understand it, someone who still knows it as part of school readiness also does not need a software walker as a non-engineer to imagine the third dimension of a 2D drawing.

Hm. No. That wasn't part of school readiness even in the fully analog era. A veritable majority can't do that in every age group – granted. What I don't understand is the ignorance of one's own ignorance. I often look for help because I consider what I can't do well. And I can do everything else myself. That's why I don't understand the frequent use of help here in the floor plan threads. The ability to outsmart oneself is part of every person's psychological makeup. But here many over-equipped people show up.

That cannot be done by a sizable majority in every age group - granted.

In my perception, spatial imagination (and also general abstraction ability) is significantly degenerating towards the younger generations. Anyone who needs a clicky colorful simulator to independently convert a 2D floor plan into 3D would not have been considered school-capable or even recommended for the Gymnasium "in my time". My history teacher (graduated 1974) said twenty years later that if the current editions still said "Zeugnis der Reife," he would have to return his in protest.

This discussion is really going off on a tangent and doesn’t help the OP at all. I would recommend that the OP let go of the idea that everything only needs to be a little more comfortable than in the rental apartment. Our stuff felt like it doubled on the day we moved into the house. Every day. I would try to recreate these awkward corners with moving boxes and see how that feels. You get used to a tight spot that can’t be avoided in the layout. Having to slalom everywhere is annoying. And this has nothing to do with open or closed. The kitchen layout is—in my opinion—a disaster for 5 people, alongside other points the OP is so firmly committed to. A architect as a consultant would make sense there, not a draftsman who just executes.

Abstentions from people who could contribute reasonable discussion posts are very regrettable. I am also happy to help the readers in cases where the "actual questioners" are ignoring everything. I find trolling in this metastasizing thread to be the incessant new aspects that should already have been mentioned in the opening post. Being underweight on the rational side can happen sometimes, after all, the owner-occupied home is a romantic-emotional topic for many prospective builders.

The interested reader may compare the current version with my original from 00:37, I distance myself from the whatever-it-is (Artificial Impertinence?) smuggled-in "Z"!