I started some time ago to study a php rapid development framework called CakePHP. I’ve heard about it from a colleague of mine. He uses and is very comfortable with it. After I study it a little I realized that this is a very powerful tool in a hand of a good programmer, you can develop robust web applications having a lot of flexibility by your hand. It is based on design patterns like Association Data Mapping, Front Controller and MVC.
Unfortunately I didn’t get deeper in it being caught with works but it is in high priority in my list.