Some people relax over a game of Sudoku, others prefer to get lost in the mesmerising configuration of a Rubix Cube. Denis Donoghue unwinds with Lego.

The 47-year-old has risen to fame online for his intricate and impressively accurate Lego models of some of Glasgow's most notable buildings and landmarks.

Inspired by his sons' love of the franchise, Denis has spent hours assembling knee-high versions of the Glasgow Film Theatre, the Barrowland Ballroom and the Duke of Wellington statue, brick by tiny brick.

He estimates his Barrowland Ballroom model took around three solid weeks and 20,000 Lego bricks to complete.

Denis classes himself as a "guest Weegie", having moved to the city around 20 years ago from Aberdeen.

While Glasgow's landscape was a welcome change from the Granite City, his love for the city's architecture was by no means an immediate romance.

He said: "When I was growing up we always saw Glasgow as big and a little scary, but when my brother went to uni here I came down to visit and it grew on me.

"I wouldn't say [the architecture] was immediately striking - it's not like an Edinburgh or a Prague, Glasgow is more of a slow burner.

"Unless you're talking about big buildings at Kelvingrove or Glasgow University, you get to know its buildings gradually, one at a time - the art deco, the Alexander 'Greek' Thomson buildings and so on."

Denis' flair for dioramas was born from a visit to Paisley Museum's Brick Wonders exhibition with his sons Lucas, nine, and Baillie, seven, where he marvelled at Lego versions of the Great Wall of China and the International Space Station.

He wondered why no one had considered building similar replicas of Glasgow's monuments - and so, set to work himself.

Perhaps surprisingly, one of his most popular models is of Glasgow's oldest surviving restaurant, Rogano on Exchange Place, complete with its recognisable lobster signage.

Denis added: "I like quirky buildings that have a bit of a story about them. With Rogano I just really liked the frontage - I work just across the road, I walk past it a lot and I think it's one of the nicest art deco frontages in the city.

"It surprised me, it was one of these random ones I had tweeted - the Duke of Wellington one had taken off a couple of months back but Rogano went bananas.

"I've always loved the Barrowland because I've been to a lot of gigs there over the years. It's one of those places that is close to the heart of a lot of people in Glasgow. They've all got known memories and stories from nights out and gigs there."

Fuelled by the release of The Lego Movie in 2014, the toy has grown into a franchise citadel, enthralling young builders and sweeping adults up in childhood nostalgia.

Lego sets now come in finite themes, be it Star Wars, Simpsons or Scooby Doo - but Denis hopes his Glasgow models will inspire children to think and build outside the box.

Denis said: "I loved Lego as a kid. I don't remember getting sets or things to build like you do these days. It was just a big bag and we just plunged into it and started building castles and trains. I'm not even sure where the pieces came from.

"[My models] have inspired my kids to be more creative - they're really enthusiastic and love being set challenges to build things.

"Lucas got the Millennium Falcon for his last birthday which he kept in one piece, but all the other models he just takes apart and makes his own things. He's making his own spaceship at the moment."

Denis now sells his models online as a small means of funding his Lego habit - but popularity for his work is on the rise.

The Barrowland Ballroom have used a photo of his model on the venue's official Twitter page, while the GFT have asked to display his model at the venue come the end of October.

Denis' Twitter followers have also voted for him to build a model to the Glasgow School of Art, although the Beresford Hotel and the Variety Bar on Sauchiehall Street are also on his list.

"It's definitely therapeutic," he added. "It's just like little problem solving exercises. Other people do cross words or Soduko or Rubix Cubes.

"But trying to work out how to do the canopy of the GFT is just like a series of little problems to solve - the right size of pieces, the colours and how it all fits together."