Bend green building tour to feature sneak peek of new Environmental Center
Published 12:27 pm Wednesday, September 23, 2026
The 23rd annual Green Building Tour put on by The Environmental Center of Bend will hold self-guided tours of 10 innovative environmentally friendly homes and buildings and a first sneak peek of the new Environmental Center this Saturday.
“This tour is really about making solutions tangible,” said Lindsey Hardy, Climate Solutions Program Director at The Environmental Center. “You can read about heat pumps, better insulation, solar, smart infill or high-performance construction, but it’s completely different to stand inside a building, see how those choices came together and talk to the people who actually made them happen.”
The event Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. stretches across Bend, Redmond and Prineville with the new Environmental Center on 16 Northwest Kanasas Avenue serving as the education hub throughout the day.
Bend Bikes will lead a 5.5 mile guided tour at 1 p.m. from the Environmental Center to three Green Tour sites across.
Some of the projects featured will include River Sol of Bend, Rooted at 19th of Redmond and Solace at Iron Horse in Prineville. Tour goers can also explore the City of Bend Public Works Campus.
“The projects are intentionally very different from one another,” Hardy said. “Green building isn’t one kind of house or one expensive technology. Sometimes it’s a highly innovative new building, and sometimes it’s keeping a 100-year-old house standing and making it more comfortable and efficient. Sometimes it’s figuring out how to fit more homes into an existing neighborhood. We deliberately want to challenge the idea that green building has one look or one price point.”
River Sol is a Bend home that earned the Living certification through the Living Building Challenge, and produces its own energy and innovative water, materials and biophilic design strategies.
Rooted at 19th features an over-100-year-old preserved farmhouse and new zero energy affordable homes.
Solace at Iron Horse features permanently affordable homes with solar, triple-pane windows, upgraded insulation and efficient electric equipment.
The Environmental Center will also host an interactive exercise called The Housing Game led by Rachel and Stacey Stemach of Stemach Design + Architecture to learn about the forces shaping what gets built in Bend.
The event is intended to give tour goers inspiration of what environmentally friendly projects they can add to their own homes.
“That’s what I hope people leave with—an idea,” Hardy said. “You don’t need to walk away ready to build a Living Building. Maybe you learn something you want to do during your next remodel. Maybe you discover a career you didn’t know existed. Maybe you see a housing model you want more of in your community. The point is to get inside these places, ask questions and leave, seeing what’s possible a little differently.”
Tickets and more information about the event is available at the envirocenter.org/tour.