ORONO (AP) – A wooden building that’s strong enough to withstand bomb blasts and hurricane-strength winds was unveiled Tuesday at the University of Maine to show off a new technology developed at the school.

Faculty and student engineers at the university’s Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center built a prototype 12-foot-by-20-foot building using lumber that was coated with a material that allows it to stand up to severe weather and blasts from explosives.

The material was developed for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and has potential applications for military troop deployments, homeland security and hurricane-resistant construction.

The university has patented the technology, and the next step is to determine how the wood can be produced practically on a larger scale.

“The goal is to create jobs in Maine,” said Habib Dagher, director of the composites center.

The composite coating is thin and adds minimally to the weight of the wood, whether it’s a two-by-four or a sheet of plywood, Dagher said.

For the prototype building, each piece of wood was coated and put together in panels that can be shipped. A 12-by-20-foot building can be set up by 12 people in about 90 minutes.

The building uses a single-size bolt for the walls, floor and roof, cutting down on the number of tools needed to put it together.

The composites center last year unveiled ballistic tent panels that it developed for the U.S. Army. The panels go inside of tents to protect soldiers in combat zones from blasts, and can also be attached to the outside of buildings to add safety.

“There’s a lot of need throughout the United States and beyond for these types of structures,” Dagher said. “It’s very, very exciting technology.”

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