Japanese architect Tadao Ando - the heavyweight champion of concrete, according to Bono - held a sellout gig in Dublin this week. Emma Cullinanreports.

Why does internationally renowned boxer-turned-architect Tadao Ando call his dog Le Corbusier - and why is Bono his new best friend? And why did a packed audience of 3,000 people turn up to hear him speak in the RDS this week?

The event, the result of a collaboration between architects and artists (including the RIAI, IMMA, the Kerlin Gallery and the Clarence hotel) with musicians also in the mix, included a surprise appearance by Bono, who introduced Ando's talk. "When he said he would introduce me we decided to keep it a secret otherwise it would turn into a rock concert," said Ando, speaking through an interpreter.

Ando's talk was less about the intricacies of building design and more about a philosophy of life. This is an architect who has won prestigious prizes such as the RIBA Gold medal and the Pritzker for his serene buildings made from high grade polished concrete that bring in nature, through ingeniously placed light wells. This is gloriously illustrated in his Church of Light in the city where he is based, Osaka, in which light streams through a vast cross cut into the end wall.

As he explained, he works with steel, glass and concrete because all architects should work with the materials of their day but it is up to each of them to do unique things with it. "I want to create space no one can create; that no one had thought of before," he said before the lecture.

Yet he was keen to show us his streetwise side. Ando is a former boxer and truck driver who never studied architecture formally. That could lead to problems in Ireland where new legislation means that the title of "architect" can't be used by those who weren't trained in the subject, with certain exceptions.

Ando offered us stories about fighting for his designs and ended each with a punchline. It was Bono who links his two worlds, saying Ando was the "world heavyweight champion of concrete".

As with many architects who get to a certain age (he's over 60), they can look back and speak about the struggle to get designs realized, and that is a good lesson for anyone starting out: if you care about design then architecture will be a struggle, with budgets, clients, builders and the general public in varying measures.

His philosophy of life began with his lack of training: "I graduated only from high school but I never gave up. I put all my might and soul into it and that inspired many people. Whatever age you are, if you have a goal and pursue it then you are young forever."

He was inspired to become an architect by Japanese designer Kenzo Tange's circular Olympics building. "It looks very Japanese, like a Buddhist temple but the technology is world class so it is both local and global."

He was also inspired by a picture of the chapel at Ronchamp by Le Corbusier, not only for the building but for the crowd gathered around it. "I learned that architecture can attract people."

His architectural education continued when a friend said that if he was interested in architecture he should go to the Pantheon and Parthenon, and when he saw the latter he wondered, "Is this really a great piece of architecture?

"So then I knew that I should study and learn about it, to understand gradually. By learning something you don't understand, like this, it makes life richer."

When he opened his office in 1969 he designed a small concrete house for a school friend who was married with a child. "The family came back and said they were having another child and what will you do? It turned out to be twins so there was no way they could live in the house. They said, it is your responsibility Mr Ando. It was apparently my fault because I am a twin, which is why they got twins. I couldn't quite follow the logic but I bought the house and made it my office. I put another floor on it and covered the interior with bookshelves."

He believes that architects should stay trim, bemoaning the fact that some architects can't climb higher than a certain point in his office: "You have to keep fit. You do not want to get fat, both mentally and physically."

Another architectural story with a philosophical punch line. Then he tells a tale worthy of Flann O'Brien's Third Policemen and the man-becoming-bicycle theory.

"In 1982 a stray dog came into the office. In a computerised society not many people live with animals and plants so I kept him and we had to come up with a name.

"Since I am Japanese I thought he should be named after the Japanese architect Kenzo Tange but people said what happens if we kick the dog? So I took the name from the most famous architect of the 20th century: Le Corbusier."

Philosophy punchline. "It is important to take good care of something you like, whether it is architecture or a dog. I took very good care of him and the pattern on his back became similar to the pattern of a chair designed by Le Corbusier." Presumably he's taking about the ponyskin chaise longue here.

Another tale of triumph after a struggle was the remarkable Rokko housing which climbs up the sides of hills in Kobe. In phase one he persuaded his client not to build in front of the slope, but up it.

"It was a very difficult project. One day it was raining and I told my staff not to visit the site and the builder phoned to say they were all there and what should they do - I said, 'Do your best'."

When it was finished the owner of the hill beside it asked if Ando would design more housing on that. "The project had been so difficult that I was a bit hesitant.

"He said, 'you are getting old and losing courage', so I decided to do it." On the third hill Ando approached the owner who didn't want housing there, "Then the earthquake came and the client came knocking at my door.

"Then I received a call about a fourth site, which was a hospital. Since I'm simple-minded I thought they had called me because I had already built here but it was because there were gangs living in the building - including the strongest of them all - and out of all the architects in Japan I was the only one who could deal with this gang because I used to be a boxer."

In all, the four projects lasted from 1977 until now which helps with more philosophy.

"It teaches you not to make haste. Take time and never give up and fate will smile on you."

And there you have it, behind the anecdotes and witty punchlines there is the dogged determination that has seen Ando realise buildings across his native Japan and now further afield.