Built from the remains of a Japanese military barracks dating from the 1930s, the Waterhouse was designed by famous Shanghai-based architecture firm Neri and Hu.
Under the plan, which must be approved by the City Council, developers could build more if they pay for architecture with the swagger of London's Shard or Shanghai Tower.
"The architecture reflected the times, " says Wu Jiang, an architect and former Shanghai urban-planning official whose grandfather was a U.S.-trained architect who worked in the city in the 1930s.