Why Architects Specify ALPI
Natural veneer is beautiful. It is also unpredictable. Grain varies from sheet to sheet. Batches change between orders. On a hotel fit-out with 400 door frames, that unpredictability can be a major headache.
ALPI solves this. It is real wood taken apart and put back together by design. The grain, the colour, and the texture are specified before production begins. The result is identical across every sheet in a run, and reproducible identically under the same product code years later.
When you specify ALPI by product code, what you approved on the sample board is what gets installed on every surface. Every time.
ALPIlignum
The core veneer. Real wood veneer, sliced from the ALPI block. Unfinished and ready for application. Available in hundreds of species, colours, and grains including the Legacy Collection curated by Piero Lissoni and the Designer Collection.
Why Architects Specify ALPI
ALPI is not a commodity surface. It is a design material. The company has collaborated with internationally recognised designers and architects to create collections that carry the same creative ambition as the projects they end up in.
- Piero Lissoni – Art Director of ALPI since 2015. The Legacy Collection.
- nendo – award-winning collections including the Layered Nature series.
- Kengo Kuma – ALPI collaboration surfaces.
- Estudio Campana – Piçava and Pirarucu collections.
- Patricia Urquiola – Grid Wood collection.
- Raw Edges, Front Design, Gamfratesi – further collaborations.
A surface designed by the same people who design the buildings it goes into.
Sustainability
FSC ® 100%
All ALPI veneers carry the FSC® 100% label the highest grade of FSC certification, covering the entire chain of custody from forest to finished sheet.
1% of wood resource
More from less. The full ALPI production process uses just 1% of the wood resource required to produce an equivalent area in solid timber. A material that delivers the aesthetic of rare and endangered species without the sourcing problem.
BREEAM / LEED
Contributes to green building certification. ALPI’s FSC® 100% certification and responsible sourcing directly supports BREEAM, LEED, and WELL specification requirements.
How to Specify ALPI
01 – Request samples from Merenda.
Contact Merenda with your project type and the type of surface application. We will send the most relevant sample boards from the ALPI range. There is no charge for samples they are provided as part of our specification support service.
02 – Confirm the product code.
Once you have selected your ALPI product, Merenda will confirm the exact product code for your specification. This code, for example, IP 1087 references a specific colour, grain, format, and batch guarantee. It is key to a robust specification.
03 – Write ALPI into your specification.
Use the product code in your specification document: ‘ALPI [product code] supplied by Merenda’. This language makes substitution extremely difficult; it requires written approval from the architect to change. Do not use ‘or approved equal’ language.
04 – Notify Merenda when the project goes to tender.
Tell us when the tender is issued and who the joinery companies are. Merenda will contact every company on the tender list to ensure they can price ALPI correctly, with the right samples and technical data. This prevents the most common specification failure: a joinery company that can’t price ALPI substituting it without telling anyone.
05 – Defend the specification.
If a joinery company proposes a substitution, contact Merenda immediately. We will provide a total-cost comparison showing the real cost difference when waste and labour are factored in and, if required, will liaise directly with your office. In most cases, the substitution cost saving is smaller than assumed.
Book an ALPI CPD for your practice.
Ireland and the UK. The session is 45 minutes, suitable for full teams or project-specific briefings.
45 minutes. In-person or remote. Groups of 2–20.
What you receive:
Sample kit in advance. Specification guide PDF. Technical data. Project support.
CPD accreditation with RIAI and RIBA is being pursued.
