Reddit reviews The Ethical Function of Architecture (The MIT Press)

As a political theory undergrad who transferred to architecture school because of the fascinating interplay between political structures, power, and the built environment, I have to say your question isn't fluffy at all. Quite a bit of excellent work covers the subject you're exploring.

Sigfried Gideon's Space, Time, and Architecture is a good place to start.

Foucault talks extensively about how liberating machines can be turned into machines of oppression. It's an interview he gave in the 70's (I think), I'll have to look it up when I head home.

The Ethical Function of Architecture discusses how value systems are translated into the built environment.

I think you can easily create an analytic framework that says something along the lines of "the built environment is the political environment, made physical". As another poster suggests, you could look at Speer and Terragni and contrast them with Corbusier, Mies, Rem, and even Vitruvius; you could easily identify departure points where the 'dictators' made aesthetic decisions to re-enforce the hegemony of the state, and the 'democrats' made decisions to promote liberty, the church, capitalism etc.

I'm currently in graduate school. Most of the textbooks I bought were for my technical classes like environmental technology or structures. I have used:

Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius. I used this in my theory class. It's a pretty neat book that offers classic principles of architecture.

The Ethical Function of Architecture This is another theory book that offers more contemporary architectural issues. I'm not the biggest fan of theoretical readings but it's not too bad.

Building Construction Illustrated by Francis Ching

Mechanical and Electrical Equipment for Buildings

Fundamentals of Building Construction: Materials and Methods

101 Things I Learned in Architecture School This is one I think every architecture student should own. Its very small and simple.