I am currently doing a lugged gravel build. I'm building a fork though, because there are no lugs for anything bigger than 1 1/8" steerers. My current gravel bike has a 1 1/8" steerer and it works fine. My design is long reach/short stem for my own reasons, turns out everyone else came to the same conclusion at the same time for different reasons. Synchronicity.
It's not a tinker toy build. First thing I did was blacksmith the bottom bracket so s-bend stays would fit. I have seen lugged builds for short chain stay and 2.25" knobbies. I don't believe in short chain stays myself, but it certainly is an interesting challenge. I'm told the regular s-bend chain stays work up to about 50mm tire with no issue. I think the columbus flat mount stays will clear much wider tires, although I probably won't end up using the pair I have on the current build.
I am thinking about doing a fillet brazed version with tapered head tubes.