DuPage County committee reviews revised Heritage Gallery design as community members press for people-focused content

DuPage County Public Works Committee members and local stakeholders debated a revised design for the county's Heritage Gallery on Tuesday, with designers from Taylor Studios presenting a timeline-based concept and members of the gallery committee and public urging greater emphasis on people, community groups and historically excluded populations.

The discussion centered on a concept that pairs an outer timeline with freestanding interior kiosks for deeper dives. Taylor Studios presenters said the arrangement was intended to let visitors read a short timeline while entering kiosks for longer, topic-specific material. Morgan, a member of the Taylor Studios team, told the committee the design "combines a timeline with an opportunity for deeper dives into specific content that gets very detailed." Pete, a Taylor Studios presenter, said the firm placed people at the center of the concept: "Our central theme is: throughout time, the people of DuPage County have continually and successfully adapted to change."

Why it matters: committee members and long-term gallery volunteers said the project should prioritize community histories, representation and artifacts over geology or broad landscape history. Philip Buchanan, speaking on behalf of the Heritage Gallery Committee, said the committee had expected earlier, direct engagement with Taylor Studios and that the first schematic "was a complete…