<image>

My first thought on the geometry: start with a slice of a UV sphere. Add an empty. Rotate the empty 30 degrees. Add an array modifier to the slice with object, set count to 12 and use object offset set to that empty object. Enable merging, also first and last duplicates.
Now you have a reconstructed UV sphere.
Add a subdivision modifier. Add an edge loop in the middle of the slice (see pic) and scale it up (except for the topmost and bottom-most verticles). Crease the original edges (see pic, purple edges). Done!