Simin Qiu

Water may be a liquid, but that doesn't mean it can't be shaped. If you've ever mucked about looking for water experiments on YouTube, you would have seen that it can be guided into a variety of standing waves by sound.

Simin Qiu

The shape of the aperture through which water flows can also be designed in such a way as to shape the flow -- as seen in a concept faucet designed by London's Royal College of Art student Simin Qiu. Called Swirl, and the recipient of a 2014 iF Haier special prize student award, the faucet is not just designed as a water saving measure -- saving up to 15 percent of water used over a regular faucet.

While it is worth noting that adding an aerator to the nozzle of your faucet can, in fact, save up to 30 percent of water used, by mixing air with the water flow -- it doesn't do so in quite as much style.

Qiu's design incorporated a double turbine, which is activated by the natural vortex motion of water under the influence of gravity (you can watch water swirling down a sink to see this in action). This is combined with holes cut into the nozzle of the faucet to create patterns in the water flow, with three different designs creating three different water effects.

Swirl also adds one more innovation: rather than a tap that needs to be turned, or a lever, the faucet has a one-touch button that will allow the water to flow. This is made possible by a preset temperature, so the concept seems more aimed at public bathrooms rather than home use, where water temperature requirements can vary quite a great deal.

You can check out more images of Qiu's design on his Bēhance page.